


At Night, Alone

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Category: Captain America (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Because the universe does not know all, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional Infidelity, I Don't Even Know, I don't know how to tag this, Infidelity, Laws around soulmates, M/M, Peter Quill workd for NASA, Sometimes Soulmates Suck, The Milano(tm), because why not, kind of messed up laws
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-11-28 10:46:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11416302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: There were rules with soul mates and Tony never desired following them really. He liked being in charge of his own life, taking responsibility for the events that happen in it but soul mates didn’t work like that. When you found them marriage was imminent and thanks to the low glow of your eyes it was next to impossible to avoid people finding out. So he and Steve were shuffled off to the nearest City Hall office and married off right away.Pepper had been a good sport about it; she had even acted as Tony’s bride’s maid. Tony always thought that was overkill but this was Pepper, she never did anything half assed. He had waited, for months he waited before giving up, but none of that Hollywood inspired bullshit ever happened. There was no moment when he and Steve ‘just clicked’, there was no warmth when they looked at each other, there wasnothing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a new project, then I thought 'ohh soulmates' and then I was like no, subvert the tropes. Then I was like 'ohh dystopia soulmates' and this was how this baby was born. 
> 
> General warning here for infidelity off the bat- its going to happen and I tagged in the main story. While Steve and Tony are soulmates, well, they kind of suck together. So there will be cheating and I know that's a touchy subject, so be warned.

Tony knew as soon as he met his soul mate because, like everyone else, his eyes glowed as soon as he made eye contact with Steve. He never really wanted a soul mate because he liked the freedom of not having one but life had a funny way of fucking him over. Most met their soul mates, if they met them, between the ages of fifteen and twenty-six and Tony was well past that. He had met Pepper a few years before and he had been happy, maybe even enough to pass her off as his soul mate even but that never happened. He figured in his early thirties he had been free to live his life however he wanted, then he met Steve and he knew that Pepper wasn’t his One and Only and his heart sank.

There were rules with soul mates and Tony never desired following them really. He liked being in charge of his own life, taking responsibility for the events that happen in it but soul mates didn’t work like that. When you found them marriage was imminent and thanks to the low glow of your eyes it was next to impossible to avoid people finding out. Pepper knew with him right away and gasped when his eyes glowed a light golden color, the same color his eyes were when the sun hit them the right way. Steve’s eyes had been a bright ice blue that had made Tony feel somewhat uncomfortable given how unnatural it looked. But what he felt didn’t matter, only the fact that they were soul mates did.

So they were shuffled off to the nearest City Hall office and married off right away. Pepper had been a good sport about it; she had even acted as Tony’s bride’s maid. Tony always thought that was overkill but this was Pepper, she never did anything half assed.

He had waited, for months he waited before giving up, but none of that Hollywood inspired bullshit ever happened. There was no moment when he and Steve ‘just clicked’, there was no warmth when they looked at each other, there was _nothing_. Tony though, he was good at faking it for the cameras and with all eyes on him thanks to his company and sometimes he even thought Steve believed his act. At home though? Tony thought Howard was cold but Steve was worse. He didn’t think Steve Rogers was a bad man, not really, it was just obvious that they weren’t a good match soul mates be damned.

Divorce wasn’t an option though, not in America anyways. He’s heard that other parts of the world were more lenient with soul mate laws but in America once you met your soul mate it was until death did you part. There were advertisements everywhere that drilled it into you- you’re soul mate is the one made _especially_ for you, why would you ever want to leave them? Every time Tony had another meal with Steve in which they sat on opposite sides of the table he wondered if death was the better option here. There was no escaping your soul mate and if you tried you were sent off to a Reeducation Camp. He’s only met a few people that have come back from them, most had no problem with their soul mates at all or so the happy couples said, but they weren’t really _people_ after that. They just went through the motions the way Tony did when cameras were pointed at him.

Instead of focusing on his loveless relationship with Steve he focuses on work, on making the world better. He was well known for his work in green energy, a far cry from his father’s legacy in making weapons, one he nearly took over himself. It was a freak accident with Rhodey that changed his mind on that front. He saw what his weapons did and he wanted nothing to do with it, not anymore. People called him crazy but he scrapped the most profitable sector of his company and created something entirely new. He revolutionized the face of green energy and that was what he focused on now.

*

Steve watches Tony play his role easily for the cameras. Some days he’s good enough that Steve almost thinks Tony really does love him but he’s learned to read Tony well since they got married. Tony wasn’t happy with him, hell, he wasn’t even sure Tony _liked_ him.

If he was honest he wasn’t sure he liked Tony either. Sure, the man was good looking and intelligent but he was reckless and wild, there was something untamable about him and Steve didn’t like things you couldn’t put into a neat order. He spent time in the military and that had agitated his need for things to be clean and organized and there was nothing about Tony that was the clean, orderly precision that Steve had a preference for. Tony listened to loud rock music, only ever ate when the bots left food laying around for him, lived off of coffee, and was easily classed as a workaholic.

He could have worked with Tony’s work schedule- he ran a multibillion-dollar company after all- his schedule was to be expected. He probably could have dealt with the music and the loudness, and even the disorder that Tony preferred in his lab, but it was the emotional distance that broke him. If Tony cared he didn’t show it but they were soul mates. Something must have drawn them together, this was how nature worked, so he continues to live with Tony and hope that something will change.

Sometimes he tries with Tony and every time it feels sort of foreign, like they were going through the motions and he knew Tony felt the same way. Maybe that was why he made no effort unless people were looking, because he thought that his efforts were useless here. But there had to be something that held them together, something neither of them found yet. Nature brought them together for a reason and Steve would find it. Eventually.

For now though he was stuck at some gala he was expected to attend with Tony. He was sure Tony would leave him at home if it wouldn’t raise suspicion around their relationship status. Steve supposed he felt the worry there, Reeducation didn’t sound pleasant but honestly Steve couldn’t see why anyone wouldn’t believe in the soul mate system anyways. Nature designed them to be this way and even with his own troubles he knew he and Tony were meant to be together, they just had to find a way to make it work. Surely some soul mates had trouble, it had to happen every once and awhile. Steve has never been opposed to a little hard work, even if he never expected it to be work at all.

“Have you ever considered making something that would make it easier to find your soul mate? I mean some people never meet theirs and that’s just awful,” some reporter says to Tony.

Right away he knows Tony has dismissed the thought but Tony doesn’t tell the reporter that. “Of course not. If it’s meant to be it’s meant to be, why mess with nature? It worked for me,” he says and he gives the reporter an easy smile like he actually believed that. Steve wonders if he does.

*

Something to make finding soul mates easier, why, so someone else could suffer in this prison like him? Tony couldn’t believe the idiot reporter actually asked that. He plays it off easily though even when he knew hundreds of companies were trying to make some kind of technology to find soul mates. Didn’t that just sound wonderful, people hunting others down so they could act out a happily ever after like Tony had to with Steve. Speaking of he was giving Tony one of his usual confused and somewhat self-righteous looks. Steve might not be so bad if he didn’t act like he was right all the time, and that this made him somehow superior.

“What?” Tony finally asks.

“You ‘don’t want to mess with nature’ by designing something to find soul mates faster? Isn’t that what literally every piece of your technology does, messes with the natural order of things?” he asks in an almost haughty tone.

He should have known Steve was never meant for him when he found out the man was a fucking Luddite. He preferred everything the ‘old fashioned’ way and Tony… well Tony never has been for living in the past. Actually he did his best to live in the future because _that’s_ where humanity was going. “No, it helps the natural order of things,” he says eventually. What was he supposed to say to that?

“Then why not help the natural order of soul mates then?” Steve asks.

It isn’t actually a bad question but it annoys Tony nonetheless. “Because it doesn’t need to be messed with,” Tony snaps. The world didn’t need more people buying into this nonsense, not when it was already everywhere. He couldn’t go anywhere without an ad, billboard, or movie trailer telling him that soul mates were inevitable. That breaking away from them was high treason, so much that the mere _suggestion_ that you didn’t believe in the system called everything about you into question. The villains in movies never believed in soul mates, they always worked to keep them apart because they were selfish and cruel but Tony just thought that maybe they wanted the freedom of choice. There was no world in which Tony ever would have married Steve if he weren’t required to by law. If they hadn’t been married within a week they both would have been stuffed into Reeducation.

“I think it would be useful,” Steve says softly.

He works to keep himself calm because Steve wasn’t doing anything wrong except maybe believe in a system he had first hand proof didn’t work. “Why?” he asks in a much more pleasant tone.

“Well, maybe if we met when we were younger we wouldn’t… well…” Steve trails off, trying to find a way to phrase that that wouldn’t be considered treasonous to the precious system.

“Hate each other?” Tony suggests after a few moments of Steve floundering.

The automatic outrage on Steve’s face makes Tony want to roll his eyes. How could the man actually believe in the concept of soul mates when he knew it was lies? Steve was always pin straight, nostalgic, hyper-organized, and he hated anyone that wasn’t. His constant nagging and harassing Tony to be cleaner proved that. He swore there wasn’t a time when Steve wasn’t complaining about something he was doing. His work schedule, music, the messiness of his lab, the way he still had Pepper working for him even though they dated, there was always _something_. Tony couldn’t escape Steve’s impossible standards and it was _suffocating_ so he worked. It was the only time he could escape the man.

“I… we… we don’t hate each other!” Steve says in outrage.

“Are you happy with me? Be honest, I can take it,” Tony says. He knows the answer already anyways.

Steve falters here a bit, looking away as he thought of what he was supposed to say. “We’re just having some trouble, it’ll be fine if you put a little effort in but you’re always working,” Steve says finally.

“I’m always working because there’s no pleasing you, Steve. You don’t like anything about me. You hate my music, you can’t stand that I’m not freakishly neat, you don’t like the way I dress, you don’t like the way I decorate, you don’t even like my assistant for fucks sakes. I’m not putting effort in because I can’t ever be the person you want without getting a personality transplant. I’m sorry but I’m not Bucky,” he snaps, losing his patience.

  
“Bucky. I should have known this was about him, look Tony. That was in the past and-” Steve starts but Tony waves him off.

“It’s fine Steve. I get it, you two were perfect for each other and then I came along and screwed it up. I wouldn’t want to be in your situation either,” he says. He doesn’t mention that he _was_ in his situation before because that’s just rude.

“Tony,” Steve’s face softens a little, “I don’t think you ruined anything. We just… need time.”

“We’ve been together for almost seven years Steve, we’ve had more time than some people even get. We don’t need more because we just aren’t suited for each other. Just… if you want to go back to him I don’t care, just keep it out of the media.” God would it ever be a relief for him. Maybe instead of having to deal with Steve’s cold criticism interspersed with his strange attempts to get closer to Tony in probably the worst ways he could he might just leave him alone. They’d probably both be happier that way.

Steve shakes his head, “I… won’t claim to understand you but you don’t need to be jealous of Bucky. That ended as soon as I met you.”

As soon as he was supposed to be happy with Tony, he means. Not that that time ever came. “Steve,” he says patiently, “I’m not jealous. I’m not happy here and you can’t possibly be happy either so… do something that makes you happy. I know you loved Bucky so just… go back.” That statement alone was more than enough to get him tossed into a Reeducation center but the charade was exhausting and he wanted to be done with it.

“Do you… not want to be with me?” he asks, almost looking hurt. Tony would feel flattered by that if Steve actually cared about _him_ , not the system that dictated that he was supposed to be important to Steve. Steve had no faith at all in Tony and if he wasn’t Steve’s soul mate he’d never spend time with him, he was only here because he had an unshakable faith that he was supposed to be happy with Tony. Evidence be damned Steve wouldn’t let it go.

“I want you to be happy,” Tony says somewhat evasively. He didn’t want to further hurt Steve’s feelings, he just wanted to give Steve an out. No, he realizes, he wants to give _himself_ an out. If Steve walked away first he didn’t have to feel guilty. Selfish maybe, but he did genuinely want Steve to be happy and that was never going to happen with him because they were terrible together. He was better off with Pepper or any number of other people and the way Tony has heard people talk about Bucky and Steve it sounded like they were far better suited to each other than Tony was to Steve.

“Then why don’t you put any effort into our relationship?” Steve asks, almost annoyed now. At least he had a real reason to be this time.

“Because,” Tony tells him after several long moments, “I’ve been force fed an idea of what soul mates were supposed to feel like and I’ve never felt any of that with you.” As soon as the words were out he regretted it because Steve looked… well he looked like Tony just boiled his first born alive right in front of him.

Tony may not believe in the system but Steve did. He just inadvertently shattered Steve’s world and he was a real asshole for that. Maybe it was just yet another in a long list of reasons they shouldn’t be together.

*

As usual Tony takes the first opportunity to leave Steve as he could and Steve was glad to see him go. Usually he was but this was different. _I’ve been force fed an idea of what soul mates were supposed to feel like and I’ve never felt any of that with you_. Tony’s words kept playing over and over again in his head and it didn’t matter to Steve that he’s never felt anything either, it was a cruel thing Tony said. Unforgivable even. He could have, if he wanted to, put Tony into Reeducation but something holds him back.

Tony told him to go back to Bucky. He had to admit he and Bucky worked far better than he and Tony ever did but that was probably because they’d been friends for years first. He and Tony met on more… turbulent circumstances. So fine, he _would_ go back to Bucky and he’d prove to Tony that Bucky wasn’t an issue here because he was Steve’s soul mate and Bucky wasn’t. There wasn’t even a contest. Then Tony would drop this craziness and maybe they could finally work things out and get on with their lives.

So he does it, he reaches out to Bucky and he makes a coffee date. The last thing Steve expects is for things to feel exactly the way they always had with Bucky. Warm, easy, effortless. All the things he never felt with Tony even though he should. He puts it out of his head though because that was dangerous.

*

He jumped on the first opportunity to escape Steve he could but that was mostly because he felt guilty for squashing his feelings. Usually being around Steve was tedious and insufferable for reasons related to Steve but this time it was Tony’s fault for the cold feeling that lingered in the mansion. So he goes as soon as possible, off to help with some space program that would certainly take months and give him limited contact with Steve. Everyone acted like he was suffering for it and he put on a good show but he was relieved to be away from Steve. Truthfully Steve even looked a little relieved when he left, not even offering a kiss goodbye the way he usually did. Not that either of them really felt anything he was sure.

Regardless he puts it out of his head as he enters the NASA facility, grinning at the business of the building. This was the kind of environment he tended to like, the kind o that reminded him of the ten floors of R&D in his Stark Industries building in New York. The one Steve called _ugly_ once.

“Hey, Stark,” someone says and he turns to find a guy running up behind him with dark blonde hair that _just_ curled and pretty blue eyes. He stops for a moment, eyes widening in shock for a moment and Tony _swears_ he feels a little bit of warmth in his chest but he waves it off. Maybe Steve had a point when he harassed Tony about the food he ate, claiming it was going to give him a heart attack one day.

“Hey,” Tony says back, unsure how else to respond. Thankfully his companion recovers fast and grins again.

“Tony Stark, wow, never thought I’d ever get to work with you! I’m Peter Quill, the head of the team here. I’ll introduce you to the others later but for now I figured I’d let you see what we’ve been working on,” he says and gestures for Tony to follow him. He does because he’s only been dying to see what Quill has done. People keep saying he’s revolutionized space travel in some way and he was curious the way he always was when he thought of technological advancements.

“How many are on your team?” he asks out of curiosity.

“Five including me. All absolutely brilliant, you’ll love them trust me. We’re almost there but there are some uh… unanticipated issues with the mechanics. Rocket, Groot, and Gamora are good, great actually, but some things are beyond them. So we called you in because… well you have a habit of doing the impossible and we’re in a bit of a pickle mechanics-wise.” Peter turns another corner and Tony follows easily enough, curious about their issue.

“What exactly do you need my help with?” he asks.

Peter turns another corner and sighs heavily. “Gas mostly. We need some kind of energy source if we’re going to travel long distances and with something as big as… well I’ll let you see for yourself so you get what I mean. If this was a rover we’d be fine but fueling something as big as the Milano, well.” Peter shrugs and leads Tony into a room so he could see what he was talking about.

When he does Tony’s eyes triple in size because there was an honest to fucking god spaceship right in front of him. “It’s blue and orange,” he says to no one in particular. And it was _huge_. Tony could see how they were having trouble designing some kind of energy source to power it.

“Well yeah, we had to paint her pretty colors so she’d stand out. Just because I’m trying to revolutionize space travel doesn’t mean I can’t do it with style,” Peter says.

Tony could relate to that, he also had a preference for making things pretty. What was the point of an earth-shattering design if it was ugly? He had to admire Peter’s style here even if he would have chosen different colors. Red and gold would have looked pretty sweet on the ship. “How far away is it from completion?” he asks.

“Technically?” Peter asks and grins wide, “she’s ready to go. Even took her for a bit of a test drive but until we figure out how to permanently power the ship testing it in any sort of real capacity is useless. So what do you think?” he asks.

“I think I might want to fuck whoever made this,” Tony says without thinking. God, he hoped that Peter wasn’t one of those soul mate nuts who would report him in an instant for a _joke_.

“My room is downstairs, three doors down. You can’t miss it, its got Rocket’s graffiti all over it,” Peter says, winking. Tony laughs and shakes his head, relieved that Peter seemed reasonably relaxed about the soul mate thing. This wouldn’t go so well if he wasn’t if Tony was honest. Soul mate talk grated his nerves.

“Good to know. Mind giving me a tour?” he asks.

*

Peter has followed Tony Stark’s work for a long time, mostly because it was awesome and Tony had the same flare for design that he did. Some people thought sacrificing looks was something that you could do but not Peter. His designs always looked excellent because what was the point of a cool advancement if it didn’t look cool? His teachers had hated him for it but he always made the actual design as useful as the components so they couldn’t say shit. The Milano was no exception and he was more than enthused to have Tony on the team.

He gives him a tour, pointing things out and telling him as much as he could jam into a single walk through the ship. He expects the guy to get annoyed but Tony soaks it all up with ease and he even manages to slip questions in too. Peter was more than happy to answer them if for no other reason than he was talking to _Tony Stark_. He wasn’t _that_ much older than Peter but given how advanced his tech was the few years was enough of a gap that Peter kid of grew up idolizing him. He was mostly over the hero-worship stuff now but it was still pretty fucking awesome that he got to work with someone who’s work he admired.

“Careful, Quill, someone might think you found your soul mate,” Gamora says. She appears out of the shadows like always, hair tied back in a bun on the back of her head. She’s got grease and dirt all over her face and it looked like she tried to wipe some sweat off her forehead but that left a streak of dirt too. He doesn’t tell her about it because most people thought Gamora was drop-dead gorgeous- Peter included- but it was amusing when the people around them saw Gamora dirty. It was like she was some kind of model on a spaceship and the dirt made it seem more like she belonged on Peter’s engineering team. Which she did. Model looks or not the woman knew her mechanics.

He opens his mouth to say Tony already _had_ a soul mate but realizes Tony hasn’t said anything and that make shim curious. Peter never really bought into that garbage anyways and his inexplicable attraction to Tony when they first met was proof. You obviously didn’t need to be fated to someone for life to get that warm fuzzy feeling inside, that was just good old fashioned sexual attraction. “The Milano is my soul mate, obviously,” he tells her and she snorts.

“You probably aren’t wrong. Who would want a soul mate as skinny as you?” she asks, poking him in the ribs. He swats her away and shakes his head.

“I dunno, he’s got a nice ass,” Tony throws out to Gamora, winking at her. Peter almost raises an eyebrow but Tony was well known for being a flirt. Clearly getting married hadn’t changed that much. He wondered what that soul mate of his thought of it but then anyone who bought into it probably didn’t think anything of it. Peter? He had to wonder how serious Tony was but maybe that’s because he was jaded. His mom’s soul mate hadn’t worked out too well for her after all. Fucking bastard killed her. Peter didn’t need fate to tell him when he was happy, he’d find it all on his own. Though he damn well hoped if he ever met his soul mate no one was around, the glow-y eye thing was hard to hide and he didn’t really want to get hitched based on some ridiculous premise that he was supposed to be happy with the person who’s eyes glowed back.

“You need better taste,” Gamora tells him and with that she leaves, snickering at Peter’s offense.

“So who was that?” Tony asks.

“Gamora. She’s the lead engineer here after me obviously. Groot and Rocket are her underlings and they both hate it but it’s funny to watch her bitch them out. I figured she’s be best in charge given my other option was Rocket and he once stole a man’s prosthetic leg for funsies. Not even kidding,” Peter says. Thankfully Tony laughs even though that was totally a dick move on Rocket’s part. He knew he was going to hell for laughing at that but he embraced it. Hell, as long as he died in space he didn’t care. He and his mom used to watch the stars and he always told her he’d get there some day. She probably thought he was some pussy ass child but he was dead serious about it and he wasn’t about to let his dead mother down.

“Jesus that’s hilarious, horrible, but hilarious. So, when do we get started?” Tony asks, brown eyes sparkling.

Peter grins wide, “as soon as you want, honey bun. Let me know what you need and I’ll give it to you.”

Tony grins in the same way Rocket does when he’s about to get into something and Peter just _knows_ he’s going to love working with Tony. “Get me a video call with my best friend Rhodey and I’ll do whatever you want,” he says almost suggestively.

“Don’t tempt me Stark, I’m _depraved_ ,” Peter tells him dramatically.

Tony laughs, “aren’t we all?” Maybe so, but Peter kind of wanted to know _how_ depraved Tony was. Bad thoughts, he knew, they tossed people who got involved with people with soul mates into Reeducation too but he kind of wanted to see how far this would go. He’s always been fond of testing limits and there was no way Stark was serious anyways. What was the harm?


	2. Chapter 2

Steve meets Bucky again for coffee even if he knew he shouldn’t but he was lonely even when Tony was around. He missed his old life and the simplicity of it. These days he was always stuck dealing with the media and Tony’s work and everything else that came with Tony. Most of his friends didn’t talk to him anymore because it was a hassle due to the media’s harassment of everyone who is even remotely close to Tony. Steve had, in the beginning, wondered why Tony had no few friends and quickly found out.

“How’ve you been?” Bucky asks, giving Steve an easy smile.

“Bored mostly,” he says honestly. Tony’s house was huge but empty and devoid of all personal touches for both Steve _and_ Tony.

Bucky raises an eyebrow. “How is it that you luck out with a billionaire soul mate and you’re _bored_? Can’t you go on vacation or something? Lay around in the sun?”

He guessed technically he could but he had never been clear on what his entitlements to Tony’s money were so he used it as little as possible. Most of his budget came out of some freelance art work that he did. “Yeah I guess, never really done any of that though.” Tony was always working- apparently to get away from him- and he’s social by nature. Going alone just sounded lonely plus it would call unwanted attention to their relationship. Normal people were watched closely in case they weren’t doing the right things but Tony? _Everyone_ watched everything he did. Maybe that’s how he got so good at playing the soul mate role even when he didn’t believe in it. That was lunacy to Steve but Tony was… well sometimes he got disillusioned about things. That’s all this was, nothing more.

“Why not? I figured you and Stark would go on all sorts of cool adventures,” he says, frowning.

“We went to Italy once,” he says. It had been a business trip for Tony that Steve had only tagged along on because he wanted to draw the architecture. He was fairly certain Tony spoke less than five sentences to him and it only just occurs to him now that he had been pleased with that, not wanting to be drawn away from his work. And that was years ago.

“You went to Italy once,” Bucky repeats in a dull tone. “Seriously?”

Steve shrugs, “Tony isn’t a vacation kind of person.” He had no idea if that was true and given the look on Bucky’s face he didn’t believe that was true at all.

“You know what, lets go do something. Lets… I don’t know, go on a road trip or something,” Bucky says, already mapping things out in his head.

Steve shakes his head, “you can’t just leave your job, Buck.” Normal people weren’t nearly as rich as Tony, meaning Steve technically never had to work. Bucky though? Not so much.

Bucky just grins though, “nah, Wilson owes me so he can cover me this week. You’ve always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, right? Lets go there.” It takes some convincing and a phone call to this mysterious Wilson person but Bucky eventually rearranges his work responsibilities and convince Steve but it happens. He _has_ always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon.

*

Tony looks over the designs to the Milano thoroughly and insists on seeing everything in action. It was essential if he was to figure out how exactly to power this thing for long distance space travel given there would be no access to regular methods of fuel. He had a few ideas of course but he needed to build some things and begin testing them to see if they could do what they needed to.

Peter comes around often and he always manages to do something absurd to brighten Tony’s day. Today he was arguing with Drax about his being or not being pathetic. “I’m just saying if you are to find your soul mate you need to understand they will be pathetic. Like you,” he says.

Tough break Tony thinks but Peter is clearly used to Drax’s behavior so all he does is roll his eyes. “Okay buddy, you keep talking like you know what you’re the expert,” he says, patting Drax’s shoulder.

“I am given that I have a wife. Accept your mediocrity,” Drax says almost soothingly. Tony has learned that he is beyond blunt, bordering on cruel sometimes but he doesn’t mean anything by it.

“I revolutionized space travel with the Milano you asshole, I am not mediocre!” Peter says in his own defense. Tony whole heartedly agrees there.

Drax looks at the massive ship and then back to Peter. “You can’t even power it. You built a very large toy is what you did. _He_ ,” Drax says and points at Tony, “will revolutionize space travel. He revolutionizes everything he touches. I would tell you to be like him but you would fail.” Drax walks off after that and Peter flips him off.

“In your defense you actually did revolutionize space travel. Nothing like this has ever been seen before and the power issue is to be expected. You had a number of ideas on how to solve it anyways, none would have worked, but you had ideas.” Tony looks up at the ship and marvels in its beauty. It was amazing what the human brain could do, what it could come up with given just a little time and effort. Peter was exceptional even if Drax didn’t think so.

“None of my ideas will work?” Peter asks, sounding disappointed. He looks up at the Milano again and sighs. “Think I’ll ever get her working right?”

“You got it this far, Peter. Further than anyone else ever has might I add. So none of your ideas would have worked out given the size of the ship and the conditions of space, it happens. I’m working on a good energy alternative to help you out.” He had sketches and simple constructions of prototypes already but he didn’t want to bring them to anyone without knowing for certain that they’d work. He liked to thoroughly test everything before he brought it to anyone, which was why his products were so popular. They were built to last. Also they looked cool.

He sighs, “lets go get batshit wasted and ponder our energy problem when we get to the bottom of a bottle of tequila,” he says.

Tony considers it for a moment before shrugging and following Peter out of the building and back to the area that was currently housing workers. There was a little bit of everything around here in order to make the staff confortable and that included a bar. Tony has come to learn that if Peter isn’t hanging out in or around the Milano he’s at the bar hitting on the bar tender with zero discrimination as far as looks went.

Peter orders a couple drinks, considers, and then orders shots. That should have been Tony’s first clue that he was about to die but he’s never been a quitter so he goes ahead and downs the shots with Peter. “So Stark,” he slurs out some drinks later, “what’re the plans?”

The plans to power the Milano, he means. “I’ve got a couple but the most promising is the- you know that thing I have in SI? That huge arc reactor thing?” he asks.

“Fuck me that thing is _way_ to big to fit on the Milano Stark, rethink it,” Peter tells him.

“I know that you damn cretin. I want to make it mini,” he tells him. He knows he’s wasted because he can _see_ the numbers float by his face and he resists the urge to reach out and touch them.

“Impossible, the math would never line up,” Peter says after thinking about this for a moment.

Tony laughs, “for you maybe. I already figured it out,” he says proudly.

“If I can’t see it it didn’t happen,” Peter tells him immediately.

“Be prepared to put your money where your mouth is Quill because I have a half finished prototype. It’s got problems though, but I’ll work the bugs out,” he says, throwing some cash on the table to cover the drinks and stands. His whole world tips to the left and then the right and then an unknown direction but thankfully Peter catches him before he lands anywhere he doesn’t want to be. For a moment they hold the position and Tony is surprised by how warm Peter is. Was he really that cold? He shakes his head and then regrets it because his brain goes swimming on him and Peter laughs.

“Jesus Stark, can’t handle your liquor?” he asks.

“Can so, you fed me jet fuel,” he accuses and primly pulls away so he could orient himself. They manage to make it back to Tony’s room in the worker’s compound and for all Peter’s talk _he’s_ the one who falls into a bush and flails around in it for almost ten minutes before he manages to free himself and that leather coat he had a fondness for.

Unlocking the door turned out to be trouble so for a long couple minutes they do the math on what it would take to break the deadbolt on the door but then Tony manages to stick the key into the hole and he lets them in. His room is a mess because it was functioning as a lab space until his own was cleared- probably with Banner if he heard right- but he knows where everything is. It takes him seconds to locate the mini reactor and toss it to Peter.

“No fucking way,” he says as he turns it over, “dude you are amazing!”

Tony ducks his head at the compliment but he smiles. It’s the first time in a long time he’s been complimented on his abilities and it feels nice. People called him a genius all the time but people didn’t really get the capacity of that like Peter would. He’s an engineer too; he knows exactly how talented Tony is because he was also an expert in their field. ‘Amazing’ from a normal person was because they didn’t understand how he did what he did. ‘Amazing from Peter was because he knew exactly how things were done and _still_ didn’t know how Tony did this, and he was impressed.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” he says honestly.

Peter turns it over, examining it closely in part because he was interested but also probably because he was drunk and needed to hold it right in front of his face. “Okay you need to show me how you did this because I have no clue how this is possible and I want to know,” he says excitedly.

“Sure,” Tony says, grabbing the nearest design he made for the mini reactor and handing it off to Peter. The rest of the night is them going over the designs and the problems with the mini reactor, namely the core, while they sobered up and considered solutions. By morning they had several ideas that Tony was set on testing before he got back to Peter.

Peter probably calls him a genius about twelve more times, a term Tony knows he doesn’t use lightly, as he examines Tony’s math. “God, this isn’t even _possible_. Your old man’s design was pretty much just a publicity stunt given how expensive and huge it was. This… this is way beyond anything he could have done,” Peter tells him.

It’s the right thing to say given how much people liked to compare the two, but everyone always acted like _Howard_ was the smarter one. He wasn’t, Tony knew, because he broke way more boundaries than Howard even came close to but no one ever saw it that way. Except Peter apparently. “Thanks. Never did like Howard, he was a fucking asshole. And his reactor wasn’t good. This is far more efficient,” he says.

“Cheaper and has a lot more energy output too, even with the core problem. This could revolutionize green energy here too,” Peter points out.

Tony nods, “I had that thought too. Figured while you’re off exploring space I’ll make this planet a little less shitty.” Climate change was imminent and it was important that they did what they could to lessen the threat of a warming planet. Also the reactor looked cool.

“This is beyond me actually. I still don’t understand how you did any of this so uh… unless you can invent a way to talk over _really_ long distances I might have to take you with me. If something goes wrong we’d all be fucked.” He examines the reactor closely, like if he stared at it long enough he might figure it out.

“I… but you saw all the designs, all my math. You should know what’s going on with it,” he says. Peter wasn’t exactly stupid, he figured with all the pieces he’d be able to put it together but Peter shakes his head.

“Nah man, this is totally out of my league. Doesn’t happen often these days but you’ve got one hell of a mind. You could probably map this sucker out with me step by step and I’d still be hopelessly outclassed.” He laughs a little and shakes his head, eyes bright as he examined the designs around him.

In Tony’s experience when people found out he was smarter than them they… well they resented him. No one liked being outsmarted he guessed, he didn’t like it either, but people tended to take it personally or something. Like Tony’s extreme intelligence was there to slight them personally. Obviously that wasn’t true but it meant a lot of isolation over the years because even experts like Tony couldn’t follow his word much like Peter. Except Peter was fine with it all, accepting that Tony was smarter than him easily. That was… shocking.

“I’m not so sure, you did some impressive work with the Milano,” Tony points out.

“But you didn’t need any of my designs to know what I did, hell, you probably didn’t even need to see it in action to know what I did. You only went through all those steps to get a good idea of energy output,” Peter says. “face it dude, you’re smarter than me. Take it as a compliment, I don’t say it often,” Peter tells him, grinning.

Tony snorts and laughs, “I don’t think I’ve said it _ever_.”

“Probably because you’re one of the smartest people on the planet,” Peter points out. “I’m going to borrow these designs if that’s okay. I probably won’t ever be able to make heads or tails of them but I really want to try now.”

Tony gestures for him to go ahead with a laugh as Peter excitedly snatches the papers around him.

*

He had scheduled ‘dates’ of sorts with Steve mostly because it was expected but he had no energy left after his day of fielding the hefty suspicion that surrounded his and Peter’s relationship. People he didn’t even _know_ were demanding answers from him; acting like a night out with Peter and going back to his room to examine designs was some kind of betrayal to Steve. Finally after he noticed Peter was facing the same harassment he hijacked the PA system for a bit to tell everyone that there was nothing going on between him and Peter, they just did some drunk work together and that their working relationship was none of anyone’s fucking business. This was all, of course, because everyone knew Tony had a soul mate. He’d faced none of this scrutiny before he and Steve met and he wouldn’t have with Pepper either despite their being in a committed relationship.

When Steve’s face appears on screen Tony is weary given that he’s spent the whole day defending their loveless relationship. He had no desire to talk to Steve long, or at least he didn’t until he noticed the setting. “Are you in a hotel?” he asks and Steve looks immediately guilty.

“I um… went on a trip,” he says somewhat vaguely. Tony doesn’t even notice because he got the answer he was looking for.

“Oh. Well that’s good, might as well get out of the house. I know you hate it there. Maybe you should spend some time in the penthouse,” Tony says. Steve liked to draw the skyline, something Tony only knew because the drawings never failed to get mixed up in his designs somehow. They were good he had to admit, but he’s never had an eye for art.

Steve shrugs vaguely, “maybe. How’s the space thing?” he asks.

“Good. The lead guy here and I have a bunch of ideas on how to power the ship but we’ve got our work cut out for us,” he says. They lapse into an uncomfortable silence and Tony sighs. “Actually people around here are being rather annoying about my relationship with Peter. They act like us working together is basically me cheating on you.”

Just like Tony knows he would Steve laughs like this is the most ridiculous thing in the world, “we’re soul mates,” he says like this somehow solves everything. “That’s not possible.” Yeah, Tony thought, it was given that he liked Peter a lot better than he liked Steve but this was all he needed to get people to shut up anyways. He asks Steve a couple more awkward questions, learning that he was somewhere close to the Grand Canyon with Bucky, whom Steve looked guilty for inviting. Tony doesn’t care though because Steve didn’t look miserable for once and he was anxious to get back to his trip so Tony didn’t have to find ways to waste time here before going back to work.

They part ways after a half an hour and they both seem pleased with that. Tony doesn’t think much of it until there’s a knock at the door. He goes to open it hoping Peter was there because he had some new ideas about the core and he wanted to run them by him but instead he finds two people behind the door in uniforms looking stern.

“You only had a half an hour video call with Steve?” the one says, disapproval heavy in in her voice.

“Steve chose to take a trip while I was gone and had some plans lined up, he had to go,” Tony says slowly, knowing he needed to tread carefully.

“Why would he do that?” the other asks.

Tony thinks quick and comes up with a plausible answer. “The trip was sort of last minute for him, he figured he needed to do something with himself since I was gone and he can do his art anywhere. He didn’t factor in the time difference when he made the plans,” he says. It was a human mistake, he figured, that was reasonable, right? Most of that was even true.

“He couldn’t have rescheduled?” the first one asks, disapproval showing through in this statement too.

“He grew up poor. He doesn’t like wasting money or causing hassle so unless I wanted to stress him out no, he wouldn’t have rescheduled. We have these meetings three times a week, he knows he’ll see me again,” Tony points out. He injects just enough of Steve’s history into the statement to make it sound like he knew him even though he didn’t, not really. He’s pretty sure Steve would reschedule if he asked but they both knew he wouldn’t.

“And what does he think of this Peter… _situation_?” the second person asks. Tony shows them the video he covertly took of Steve blowing the whole thing off with such strong confidence that he wouldn’t have been questioned. Tony wished he could pull that off but he’s never been a good liar.

The officers of sorts exchange a look, “well it looks like you’re fine. Don’t let this happen again,” the first one tells him, glaring at him like she knew he was up to something. Tony resists the urge to roll his eyes and shuts the door. As soon as he’s back into his room safely- for now at least- he sends that video of Steve to everyone with a small note not to insult relationships they don’t understand. Hopefully it would guilt everyone into shutting the hell up.

*

Peter watches the video for the third time in a row, marveling at how sure Steve sounded. Back when he was in Tony’s room he hadn’t been so sure. Peter had no faith in soul mates, not that he’d dare to tell a soul that, but he had been hoping that…

Well he didn’t know what he’d been hoping for. Maybe a companion that could keep up with him, outsmart him even. Someone who was funny and understood Peter’s sense of humor the way Tony did. Most people thought his flippant arrogant attitude was all there was to offer, like Drax, but few knew to dig deeper. He was sort of hoping, perhaps foolishly, that Tony might be that person.

He tosses his phone on his nightstand and stares up at the ceiling. There were constellations all over it with those little glow starts children had. They reminded him of his mom and the way they’d stare at the sky at night and she’d show him the planets and constellations and how they moved in the sky. He missed her more than anything and he hated his piece of shit father for taking her from him. Something else Tony related to as well given his own history with his father.

He sighs and goes over the constellations in his head the way he used to with his mom until he finally drifts off, thinking of one of the last things his mom said to him. _Goodnight my little Star Lord._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for mentions of domestic violence and abuse.

Sometimes, after so long with only Tony around for support, he forgot how it felt to actually be happy. The thought was… well it was horrible and he didn’t think Tony intentionally went out of his way to dislike Steve but he didn’t think he tried to like him either. Things with Bucky were always easy though, partially because they knew each other so well. It turned out that Bucky remembered all his favorite things, including random and somewhat useless things like the way Steve only liked vanilla ice cream if there was strawberry sauce on it. Not strawberries, strawberry _sauce_. It was totally different.

Bucky remembers all of these things effortlessly too and without any kind of prompt. Steve has to wonder if Tony knew any of this stuff about him but he doubts it. If he was honest he didn’t know that much about Tony. It seemed unrealistic to expect Tony to remember details of Steve’s life when he barely even knew what Tony’s middle name was. Edward. He saw it on a legal document once three years ago.

*

Peter holds himself at a distance for a solid week and it was driving Tony nuts. Sure he liked his other coworkers but none of them were as interesting as Peter and that was saying something considering he worked with a guy with the legal name ‘Rocket Raccoon’. Not only was Rocket’s name ‘Raccoon’ but he had a rare skin condition called vitiligo that left his skin looking vaguely like raccoon markings. To say he was unimpressed with this was an understatement but the guy was hilarious, if a little less entertaining than Peter. Rocket was abrasive, as was Drax, and Gamora had a preference for keeping to herself which was fine but it left Tony bored.

No one else seemed fond of him either, which was no surprise really. Those that weren’t personally insulted by his work relationship with Peter didn’t like his intelligence. This would have been one place where he didn’t think he’d have to dumb it down for people but apparently that wasn’t true. And, like most people, the people around him didn’t like it when he proved them wrong easily. He thought it was friendly academic banter but no, he supposed others just found it annoying. So he ends up working on his designs alone again.

Sometimes he hated Steve when it came to moments like this. More than half the people here thought his spending time with Peter _one time_ was a moral fucking outrage and shunned him for it. Hell, if that’s what influenced the rest to assume everything else that came out of his mouth was inherently untrustworthy or something he wouldn’t be surprised. He knew none of this was Steve’s fault, that he also faced this too, but he couldn’t help but resent him for inadvertently being the cause of his isolation from the world. Tony was abrasive enough on his own, he didn’t need help.

“You haven’t made progress on that in a week? The first week you were here you managed to revolutionize that giant arc reactor and the next you’re stumped?” Peter asks, shaking Tony out of his thoughts. He jumps a little but settles back into his spot deep in the Milano. He liked the isolation here. It meant he _chose_ to be away from the glares and snotty comments thrown his way instead of having to be isolated sitting in a room full of people.

“It took me two weeks,” Tony reminds him. “And I’m still finalizing the design I want to use.” He had three contenders, each more advanced than the last, but it wasn’t a matter of advanced so much as what could survive the conditions of deep space. So far design one and three were the best, but two had the advantage of a higher energy output the way he designed the core. All three would burn cores out fast though and no matter what he tried he couldn’t seem to figure out what kind of core would withstand the conditions of the reactor better let alone space.

Peter throws himself down next to him, “I’ll trust you to make the right choice because not one of us can understand how the hell those things work. Rocket and Drax managed to make a half of a replica but then it blew up so I’m guessing they did something wrong,” he jokes. “Still, didn’t think it’d take you this long. Not that it matters, you have three years before this thing is planned to launch but given how fast things were in the beginning, well.” He’d been hoping for something sooner obviously. Tony didn’t blame him for wanting to leave this godforsaken planet.

Tony just shrugs because that’s all he has to offer right now. The core problem was bigger than he thought and given the unpredictability of space travel he wanted something, well, near permanent. There would be backups of course, that was just necessary, but he wanted those to be emergency use only. He and Peter sit in silence for a little while as Tony tries to calculate how well various other elemental combinations would work in the reactor. So far nothing was working out.

After some time sitting in silence Peter shifts, looking around in all directions. “No one comes to this section of the Milano, you know that. No one has business down here,” Tony points out. It was why he chose this spot and Peter had to know it. Plus he knew this ship inside and out, he would definitely know that no one would be anywhere around here. Though Tony had to wonder why he cared.

“I know but… well I’m going to ask something personal and most likely extremely offensive and I don’t want anyone to hear it,” he says. Tony frowns but Peter takes a deep breath and looks around one last time. “Do you actually care at all about your soul mate?” If it came from someone else Tony actually _would_ have taken offense even if anyone looking closely enough would know he and Steve were considerably unhappy together. But no one else needed to know that given the repercussions that would follow.

“You’re asking because…?” he asks, not sure if he could trust Peter. This wouldn’t be the first time someone has been set up to admit that maybe they didn’t really care that much about their soul mate by someone they cared about only to be carted off to a Reeducation Center. Tony didn’t plan on being one of them.

“I uh… noticed that those people, the soul mate cops I guess, keep harassing you. They only do that when they think someone is uh… not acting normally, whatever those arbitrary standards look like,” he says.

Tony can feel his eyes widen and Peter winces, tensing up. That was a risk, Tony knows, one he’s never been ballsy enough to take with the exception of one drunken night when he was seventeen and Rhodey never would have turned him in. Even if someone heard he knew Rhodey would tell anyone who would listen that Tony was just distraught from his parents’ death and didn’t know what he was saying. “Yeah, our calls are always too short. Apparently two hours is the norm,” he says.

“But why? The calls I mean, why are they too short?” Peter asks.

Nosey, Tony thinks, but there’s some other motivation he can see there that isn’t the same as everyone else’s. Peter doesn’t think Tony is wrong, he realizes, but he doesn’t know what Tony felt the way he did and he considers Peter’s first question. “Steve and I… don’t really get along much,” he says slowly and Peter, oddly, goes ramrod straight. He can see something there on his face, some kind of fierce look that Tony doesn’t understand but he continues. “It isn’t that he’s a bad person or whatever it’s just… we’re completely different people. We have nothing in common and we make each other miserable but he refuses to admit it. I don’t get it, I work in my lab more than I do anything else to avoid the guy and I _know_ he hates spending time with me when he actually has to do it but he _refuses_ to let go of the fact that we’re like meant to be or whatever. I don’t even thing soul mates are real, they’re statistically unlikely,” he mumbles.

It feels surprisingly good to admit that all out loud for once but he also can’t help but tense. People didn’t say things like that, not without giving up months of their life at the least dealing with Reeducation. He’s heard that some people spend years there and he just wasn’t built for captivity.

“Neither do I,” Peter says softly, drawing Tony out of his own anxieties.

“What?” he asks a little stupidly.

“Believe in soul mates. Sure you’ll meet some glow-y eyes bastard one day but it’s all a fucking sham. You even know what they _do_ when soul mates don’t work out? And I don’t mean the ones who don’t fall for this bullshit, I mean the ones who get hurt,” he says.

“Nothing. My father was abusive, didn’t seem to care that he beat the shit out of his soul mate; he just wanted a punching bag. Sometimes he didn’t care if it was me either.” Peter sucks in a breath and his face shows the proper amount of disgust that warranted. Tony frowns because he’s spent his entire life making casual mentions to his mother’s abuse, to his own abuse, and all he’s ever gotten was silence of ‘well they’re soul mates’ like that somehow excused the abuse. It made him want to hit people as much as Howard apparently wanted to hit his mother, except Tony wasn’t a disgusting excuse for a human being. At least not like Howard.

“My mom was killed by hers. Poison. Doctors thought it was cancer and honestly so did I for the longest time. A foster family of sorts took me in and it wasn’t until years later that I even met my dad. Yondu knew him pretty well I think because whenever I asked about him he shut me down. I didn’t know why until I met the guy in college and I have no idea how he found me. Anyways, long story short I found out he killed my mother and got away with it. Cops didn’t even do anything when I gave them a fucking taped confession. They were soul mates so I guess that makes premeditated murder okay,” Peter snarls in disgust.

Yeah, okay that might just be worse than his own parents’ sordid tale. “Why did he come back for you?” he asks, wondering why a guy like that would care to find the kid he clearly left behind.

Peter shrugs, “he thought we’d have some grand adventure or something. I think he might have heard about me getting accepted to a Masters program and the funding that came with it. I might have been nice enough to share the wealth if he wasn’t stupid enough to admit to murder like we’d I don’t know, bond over it or something.”

Tony can’t help but wrinkle his nose in disgust at that, wincing. Yikes. So his own father was a piece of work but he never expected Tony to take some kind of sick pleasure in his mother’s pain. “That’s horrible,” Tony says finally because there was no other reaction for that.

“Yeah. So I’ve sort of lost all faith in this soul mate thing and the way you acted… I thought maybe you did too. At first I figured you were just flirty, so am I, but when we were in your room I thought it might be something else,” he says. And then after he wondered if he was imagining shit when he was drunk. Tony knew because he’d think the same thing if he were in Peter’s place.

“You weren’t. Imagining things I mean. People don’t really appreciate my intelligence, not they way you do anyways. People call me arrogant, hail me as some kind of technological hero, and dozens of other things but they do it out of ignorance. You _know_ how smart I am and you know because you’re pretty damn smart yourself. And you’re not afraid to admit that I’m smarter than you. I’m sure you’d be just as unafraid to tell me if I was wrong. I don’t get that ever let alone often,” he says. People were either threatened by his intelligence of thought he was an ass for knowing how smart he was. When you spent you’re entire life dumbing everything you knew down even in the most mundane of moments you came to know exactly how smart you were. You had no other choice but to accept that you accidentally outsmarted everyone in the room and when people hated you for it, well, who could blame you for using that intelligence as a shield. Except now he was known as an arrogant asshole like his father. That hadn’t been in his plans when he decided to just freely admit that there was almost no one smarter than him.

“I don’t meet people that are smarter than me often and none of them are like you. I’ve met some smart people don’t get me wrong, Gamora is insanely smart, but we both had to work to have that kind of intelligence. We’re smart because we worked our asses off to be that way, especially her. But you? That’s just how you are. I had to consult a freakisly large amount of resources to design the Milano but you walked in here and knew how it all worked because your brain can just _do_ that. I have no idea why people are so rude to you about it or why they act like you’re an ass for stating how smart you are. It’s just a fact. It’s also pretty attractive. Your soul mate though, does he know all this?”

Does he understand, he’s asking. It’s probably the first time Tony actually read between the lines successfully in the first try in a social interaction without prior experience. He was awful at social interactions, always has been, but he learned to do a few things well enough to pass when he was out in the world. He still preferred his tech.

“No, Steve doesn’t get it. The guy is a fucking _Luddite_. How the hell did I, Tony Stark, the futurist and one of the most prominent technological visionaries that has ever existed get stuck with a _Luddite_? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Steve is a bad person or whatever but Jesus Christ, he whines when I make notes on things that aren’t paper and he can barely operate a toaster.” That last bit was an exaggeration, Steve wasn’t bad with tech when he cared to learn how to use it but most of the time he just didn’t care. Tony swore they’d live in Ye Olde Shack churning their own butter with no electricity like the Amish if Steve had his way. He’d rather _die_.

Peter unexpectedly starts laughing, “oh my god seriously? Dude I am so sorry but that’s the funniest thing I have ever heard. Oh my _god_ the universe really fucked that up!”

“He says opposites attract,” Tony mumbles, which only encourages Peter to laugh harder.

“Opposites? Oh man he really doesn’t get it, does he? That technology is more than just something you make? He doesn’t get how you relate to it, how each thing you make has a little bit of you in it.” Peter has stopped laughing by that last bit and Tony is surprised to find that Peter actually understands how he feels about tech.

“He thinks technology is cold and isolating but I don’t think he knows just how much _more_ it offers to people. People look at a phone and see something cold and impersonal but I see a fifteen year old kid’s only lifeline to talk to his aunt after his uncle died,” he says, thinking of a kid he ran into years ago. Peter Parker. “Or a stereo. It just plays music, right? People don’t understand how music, for some people, is a way to escape into a melody and some lyrics that understand you better than people. Even my clean energy stuff helps people, I mean a lot of environmental disaster has been slowed or even stopped thanks to what I’ve built. But people act like a laptop has the power to destroy society if people use it ‘too much.’”

Steve often complained that he spent too much time with his technology but he didn’t understand that Tony liked it better than people. Technology might be finicky and strange at times but people broke your heart. He didn’t seem to understand, or maybe he didn’t care to, that Tony has long since used technology as a way to relate to the people around him because it was the only way he knew how. People didn’t like _him_ , people usually described him as ‘too much’ of something whether it was smart, rude, involved, distant, whatever. Technology made people easier for him because he didn’t have natural people skills like Steve did. Steve understood the social rules and Tony has never understood why people said they appreciated honesty and then got upset when he told them the truth without using all those little social euphemisms that somehow make harsh words easier.

“Society is weak if it can be brought down by a hunk of gears. I’ve always thought that was a bullshit excuse people pull when they can’t adapt to the new things that are around them. Just admit you don’t know how to use the new stuff, that’d fine, but don’t act like a phone will somehow ruin people’s lives. _People_ ruin people’s lives. The phone is irrelevant. Also there are really cool video games so I feel like people should get with the program because who wants to miss out on that? So you have a Luddite for a soul mate. That’s pretty shitty dude,” Peter says and starts laughing again.

“Stop laughing at me, it’s not funny!” Tony tells him. “When he talks to my AI he looks at the ceiling!” Actually everyone did that but it was a stupid and annoying habit that makes Peter double over, clutching his stomach.

“Seriously?” he asks.

“Yes. Like JARVIS doesn’t have a face, accept it and talk to the air like a normal human,” he snaps. Peter starts laughing again, probably because normal humans didn’t talk to air but _still_.

“So you really don’t care about your soul mate?” Peter asks after he calms himself a little.

“It isn’t that I don’t care, I just don’t care like I’m supposed to. I guess I’m mostly indifferent to him like you would be to a stranger. You don’t want terrible things to happen to them but you also don’t really care if good things happen to them. Why?” he asks, turning to look at Peter.

“Because, if you did I’d feel like a real ass for doing this,” he says. Tony goes to ask what _this_ was but then Peter leans forward and kisses him. It’s chaste and soft, like he’s mostly just testing the waters but when he goes to pull back Tony draws him back in.

It wasn’t that he’s never kissed Steve, or even that it was infrequent, it was just that there was nothing there for him. Steve was objectively a decent kisser but without any of the normal emotional connection or attraction to go with it kissing him was empty and somewhat meaningless. Why kiss a person if you weren’t attracted to them in some way or if you didn’t really care about them?

Peter was different though and it takes Tony an embarrassingly long time to note that the feeling he had when he ran into Peter the first time was attraction. Except he hasn’t felt immediately attracted to someone like that in… well, years. It used to be a regular thing before being Steve’s soul mate sucked the life out of him. No wonder his kiss with Peter felt warm and soft with a touch of passion behind it even if Tony could tell Peter was holding back. He does too because he had no idea if this is what he wants, plus as much as he didn’t want to be with Steve he didn’t want to out and out wreak the guy emotionally either. This would undoubtedly do that.

He pulls away after a moment and Peter lets him, giving him space to decide how he felt about this. Another difference between him and Steve. Steve assumed he had to have felt _something_ but he held himself to the same standard so Tony never really called him on it. Truthfully he was sure Steve only ever bothered because he was trying to convince himself something was there when it wasn’t and Tony let him because he hadn’t wanted to admit that there was nothing desirable about spending time with him in or out of bed. Which was unusual for someone who was rather known for being a bit of a slut before meeting Steve.

“Was that… okay?” Peter asks after a moment.

Tony considers it for a few seconds before he kisses Peter again, noting that spark of pleasure when Peter gently pulls him closer. “Yeah, that was okay,” Tony tells him when he finally pulls away. His hair must looks ridiculous from work and his designs got shuffled around when Peter had drawn him closer but he doesn’t pay too much attention to that because for the first time in a long time physical contact like this wasn’t something he engaged in to get it over with. He actually _liked_ being in contact with Peter and if Peter’s body language was to be trusted- and this was probably the only area of human communication Tony knew he was something of an expert in- he didn’t mind either.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve wasn’t happy with Tony. No matter how much he tried to defend it, no matter how much he’d argue if Bucky were to out and out tell him what he’s noticed he wasn’t happy. When he talked about Tony it was like it was tedious to remember that he existed, like their relationship was something that annoyed him more than thrilled him. Bucky might have believed in soul mates once upon a time but he’s long since lost faith. If soul mates were real why was his perfect match paired with some jackass who clearly didn’t know what he was missing? Steve would have been with _him_ , not Tony Stark.

Hell, from the way Steve talked it sounded like Tony was _less_ happy in their relationship and after accidentally overhearing a video call between the two that was absolutely confirmed. Stark seemed more fond of some guy named Peter than Steve and he just nodded numbly along like a moron. It was sad to watch and it also kind of pissed him off but Steve was… well, _fond_ of the idea of soul mates. Maybe it was because he disliked being wrong more than most anything or maybe it was because he put a lot of effort in with Tony, who knew? Regardless of why Steve felt the way he did Bucky was determined to make him feel differently. Well, not _make_ him, he already knew Steve felt differently he was just clinging to some stubborn beliefs and if anyone could help him out of that it was Bucky.

If it was anyone else he never would have risked it. He’s heard the horror stories about Reeducation same as everyone else and he had no desire to do a stint there but this was _Steve_. They’ve known each other since they were kids, even if Steve refused to see reason he wouldn’t ever turn Bucky in for his blasphemous views. So after yet another dud of a video call with Tony that they managed to stretch to the allotted time frame he climbs into bed beside Steve. “You guys suck together,” he says eloquently, fully anticipating all the arguments that Steve throws out for Tony. “Steve, I’ve known you since we were five, do you really think your flimsy excuses will work on me? Stark isn’t happy with you either and honestly he’s an idiot for it.”

Bucky couldn’t believe he lost the love of his life to a guy that didn’t even deserve Steve. What kind of unfair shit was this? “Bucky, you don’t know anything about our relationship,” Steve snaps, jumping straight to anger than.

Good, that meant Bucky could get this over with faster. “There isn’t a relationship to know anything _about_ Steve,” he fires back. “If I asked you what Tony’s favorite dessert was you probably wouldn’t know. He definitely doesn’t know anything about you, don’t you shake your head at me Steve he had _no idea_ that you’ve always wanted to go the Grand Canyon. You’ve only wanted to go since as far back as you can remember, that should be common knowledge to him. You two have been with each other for seven fucking years and you probably have no idea what his first invention was when even _I_ know that,” he says.

Steve frowns, “you do not know what the first thing Tony invented was.” Neither did Steve but Bucky doesn’t need to tell him that.

“A circuit board when he was six, later it went in one of those robots he seems to love so much. He told someone that in an interview I watched years ago.” One he watched for an update on Steve and he got dick all for it. Tony skirted the question and then they ended up talking about some new thing he made and he was back to being animated and happy. “Google it,” he tells Steve when he doubts Bucky.

He does because Steve was nothing if not stubborn so he does, eyes widening in surprise when he realizes Bucky was right. “I… he never told me that,” he says eventually.

“You never asked,” Bucky tells him with absolute certainty. Steve made it his business to talk to the people he cared about and he didn’t care about Tony. Or at least not like he did with everyone else anyways.

“We just… need more time,” he says softly.

“You’ve had almost a decade,” Bucky says softly, “how much more time could you need?”

Steve sets his computer aside, something Bucky knew he disliked using despite it probably being custom made for him, and runs his hands through his hair. “I don’t know Buck. I just… we’re soul mates,” he says softly.

“So what?” Bucky tells him, still using a soft tone. “Maybe the universe got it wrong this time, I don’t know. But I _do_ know how unhappy you are and it’s not fair.”

“What am I supposed to do about that, Bucky? Tony said… never mind,” he mumbles but Bucky senses something in that so he jumps on it.

“Tony said _what_?” he asks, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. Stark was blunt, whatever he said it was in no uncertain terms.

“He told me to go back to you. Just to keep it out of the media,” Steve says almost too softly to hear. Music to Bucky’s ears. He could sneak around for the rest of his life if it meant a few stolen moments with Steve and he’d damn well do it too. Steve would have never told him that if he didn’t want to either. Steve was a deliberate kind of person, he didn’t bother saying things he didn’t intend to mean something.

“So do it,” Bucky tells him, almost breathless. Steve’s eyes go wide like he was seriously surprised Bucky just said that. Hell, maybe he was after being in a seven year long relationship that was all messed up.

“What?” Steve asks.

“I said ‘do it’. You’re the love of my life, Steve, I don’t give a shit what the universe thinks.” With that he leans forward and kisses Steve, surprised when Steve drags him into his lap immediately, apparently starved for affection.

*

Tony and Peter aren’t complete idiots. They fell under suspicion once so they did their best to avoid it now. When they talked to each other in public it was in short, professional sentences that seemed to please the soul mate cops or whoever the hell they were. Tony hasn’t seen them around before but he wouldn’t have. Until now he put on a good show and his communication with Steve wasn’t monitored. Now everything he did was under extra scrutiny in regards to Steve so people were noticing some things.

When they met up they also made sure to leave at different times and from different directions, same for when they met up. So far they’ve managed to throw suspicion off and Tony was more than happy to sneak around for some extra time with Peter. When he sneaks over to Peter’s door in the middle of the night Peter opens it while singing _Hooked on a Feeling_ into a _rat_ of all things.

“Aww, poor rat,” Tony says as the poor little thing dangles there.

“Nah, Cedric is cool. He’s going to be the first rat in deep space but for now he’s my microphone. Come on,” Peter says and he draws Tony in. He laughs and goes, shaking his head as he does. Peter continues singing into poor Cedric but in the rat’s defense it did look genuinely fine with this predicament. When Peter gently places him back in his cage he runs off to his wheel and starts running and Peter leaves him be.

“You and you’re damn seventies music,” Tony says, shaking his head. He preferred eighties music himself and Peter thought he was a heathen for liking anything made after seventy-nine.

“Excuse you, you mean the superior decade? Everything made before and after is total shit,” Peter tells him with absolute confidence.

“Uh huh. Lets not pretend like the seventies would be there without all the stuff before it sweetheart. And if we’re talking the superior decade the eighties is _key_ and nineties grunge is alright,” he says. He liked Kurt Cobain as much as the next guy and, if pressed very deeply, he’d admit he had a thing for Rihanna. But only when basically tortured or with Rhodey because he could blame the bad music on him.

“Oh no, I don’t give a shit what had to be around to get seventies music it all _sucked_. John Lennon can suck my dick. Seventies was the pinnacle on music,” he says.

Tony throws himself on Peter’s bed and laughs, “says the guy who’s never heard AC/DC’s _Back in Black_ album,” he says.

“Oh but I have gorgeous, I still think it’s shit,” he says, crawling onto the bed after Tony.

“I’m going to have to dump you if you keep this up,” Tony warns as Peter crawls over his body, coming to a stop as he hovers over Tony’s frame.

“You wouldn’t. Who else would put up with your freakish music taste?” he asks. Well, not his soul mate. Steve hates his music too but when he complained it wasn’t in the easy good-natured way Peter did it in.

“Probably the same heathen that thinks the _seventies_ is the pinnacle of music,” he says, laughing as Peter bends to kiss him. He tentatively reaches out and settles his hands on Peter’s hips, drawing him closer. This was all new to him still after so long with Steve and Peter was patient with him, letting him explore things slowly. It was strange to him, doing this because he _wanted_ to instead of just going through the motions. With Peter he noticed the details, like the way he smelled, and how warm his skin was. The difference between him and Steve was startling.

Peter pulls back after a long moment, laughing when Tony lets out what could only be described as a squawk of protest. Peter settles his hands on Tony’s thighs, drumming some beat to one of his crappy seventies songs more than likely. He stares at Tony for so long that Tony eventually shifts in discomfort, unused to this kind of attention. Peter gently squeezes his thighs, “Relax. I just… don’t know how the hell I managed to get so lucky,” he says eventually.

Tony snorts, “you’re in a relationship with a guy who has a soul mate Peter. That’s high treason and if anyone even _thinks_ we’re involved we’re being sent off to some center where we’re going to be brainwashed into believing in soul mates again. If this is what you call lucky you need to reconsider bad luck,” he says honestly. God even knew what he was going to do with Steve when Peter eventually took off into space and he was left here with his ‘proper’ partner. Tony didn’t really want to think about going back to the way his life was before.

“Or,” Peter says, “I’m in a relationship with a guy who understands the kind of messed up society we live in in which people can literally get away with murder if they kill their soul mate. I might have to keep this under some pretty tight wraps but I think it’s worth it when I found someone who actually understands me, soul mate or not.”

“Yeah, crime of passion laws,” he mumbles, shaking his head. How abuse like Howard’s fell under such a law considering how abuse is a continuous thing not a heat-of-the-moment thing he had no idea but he’s stopped trying to apply logic to this crazy universe.

“Bullshit laws are what they are. You know what I find interesting about soul mates though? Back before interracial relationships and same sex relationships and all that were legal those nutty soul mate police straight up used to _kill_ those soul mate pairs. Guess being completely loyal to a fault to your soul mate is only a thing if your relationship is considered socially acceptable,” Peter says, rolling his eyes.

Yeah, Tony knew about that too. “You’re still carted off if you have more than one soul mate,” he says and Peter’s eyebrows lift.

“That’s possible?” he asks.

“I’ve met a few people with more than one actually, and every single one of them has disappeared without a trace by _my_ standards. I mean it’s statistically unlikely that you’d only have one soul mate anyways, that’s absurd.” What if his soul mate was five when he was fifty? That’d be next level disturbing though it probably happened. Soul mate cops probably tossed them into jail or whatever it was they did with the undesirable matches.

“Huh. Guess it never occurred to me that people could have more than one,” Peter says.

“That’s the goal. I mean until recently soul mate pairs didn’t cross race or sexed lines. Soul mates are supposed to be perfect, same sex pairings and interracial relationships were considered dirty and wrong.” Anyone who knew the history of soul mates would know that they were not an infallible system even _to_ the system.

“Or soul mates who are just bad together,” Peter points out. “If people would just acknowledge that soul mates are only as awesome as the people in the pairs than maybe my mom would be alive. Maybe your mom wouldn’t have suffered and maybe we wouldn’t be stuck sneaking around,” he says bitterly.

“Too much to ask,” Tony says flippantly. “Now get back down here, I like kissing you and it’s been forever since I’ve properly enjoyed a kiss.” Fuck soul mate history, he was more interested in Peter.

*

Steve missed Bucky now that he was at home but he didn’t have much choice but to deal with it until he got off work. He was coming over after but in the mean time Steve was stuck in Tony’s huge house alone. Even Tony once admitted that this house was cold and devoid of life but he seemed unable to let the childhood home go. He’s reading a book when someone knocks on the door and he frowns, wondering who would be here. Without Tony home people rarely came around and Bucky wasn’t supposed to be here for hours yet.

When he gets to the door he’s surprised to find what looked like two officers though he didn’t recognize their uniforms. “Um, what can I do for you?” he asks in a polite enough tone.

“Are you Steve Rogers?” the first one asks.

“I am. And you are?” he asks.

“We’re concerned citizens,” the second says. Concerned citizens with badges, Steve notes, which meant they weren’t citizens at all.

“Fine then. I don’t see why you have reason to be concerned unless I’m missing something. Unless something happened to Tony than there’s really nothing particularly special going on in my life and I talked to him last night so I know he was fine a few hours ago.” It’s mostly true. Yes, Tony was fine and Steve knew it because they spoke last night when Steve got home but Bucky was probably a pretty interesting development in his life to most. No one needed to know about him though. Something he says causes the cops to relax though because they look far less on edge when he finishes his small rant than when he started.

“You seem to have a record of short conversations with each other and research has told us that you two almost never keep in contact when he’s away on business,” the first cop says.

Uh, _what_? How would they even know that? “Tony keeps odd hours,” he says slowly, “and he doesn’t like being interrupted when he’s working. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep up with the time changes and his work schedule is impossible to predict.” It wasn’t wrong. Even when Steve had been intent on keeping in contact and Tony had been open to it they had one hell of a time finding a decent time and over the course of a few months they just didn’t bother anymore. But how these people knew that he had no clue and frankly it was creepy.

“So you’re saying he doesn’t make time for you?” the second officer says, jumping on his statement in a way that makes him uncomfortable.

“No, I’m saying Tony has a difficult schedule, one we’ve learned to work with. Can I ask why exactly you’re here?” he asks. Something told him ‘concerned citizens’ was code for something else entirely.

The two officers exchange a glace, “well the two of you have been raising suspicion with your… habits and you’re under investigation,” the first officer tells him.

“For?” Steve prompts, raising an eyebrow.

“Undesirable conduct,” the second officer says and Steve barks out a laugh.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? What even qualifies for ‘undesirable’ anyways? You know what, never mind, I’m calling a lawyer,” he says and he slams the door. _Fuck_.

He quickly leaves the foyer and paces back and forth in the living room for a few moments before an idea strikes him. “JARVIS?” he asks, feeling silly talking to nothing.

“Yes, sir?” the AI asks and Steve represses a shiver at the creepy voice coming from nowhere. Tony insisted on having it everywhere though because he liked the bizarre system.

“Is there a secure way to get ahold of Tony, one people won’t be able to track?” he asks.

“Of course. Would you like me to call him?” the AI asks.

“That’s be awesome, thanks,” Steve mumbles as the whole living room starts to ring. Apparently JARVIS put the call through over the speaker system in the room. Whatever, it would do.

“Rhodey, it’s only been eighty years you asshole. It’s about time you called,” Tony says casually, laughing a little.

“Sorry to burst your bubble but I’m not Rhodey,” Steve tells him. He swears he can _feel_ Tony’s mood change even though they weren’t anywhere near each other.

“Oh. What’s going on, Steve?” he asks in a far less friendly tone. No wonder they were under investigation if this was how Tony acted.

“Well apparently the fucking _soul mate police_ are after us because we don’t talk enough or something. I don’t know they said something about undesirable conduct or something,” he snaps, annoyed.

This seems to catch Tony’s attention. “When did this happen?” he asks urgently.

“About fifteen minutes ago. I told them I was calling a lawyer and slammed the door on them,” he says.

Tony snorts, “well at least you have a brain. Alright, did they say anything else about our uh… communication habits?” he asks.

“No but…” Steve pauses, wondering if he should mention Bucky. Tony told him to go back to Bucky but saying and doing were two different things and if someone starts looking too closely at least fifteen people in Arizona thought Bucky and Steve were soul mates and neither of them corrected them. It had been a miracle Steve wasn’t recognized as _Tony’s_ soul mate anyways. God damn it he knew he got cocky and Tony… well he had a right to know.

“But?” Tony prompts and he realizes he’s been silent for too long.

“I followed your advice and met up with Bucky,” he mumbles.

“Huh? You did what?” Tony asks.

“I slept with Bucky, okay?” he yells, annoyed.

Tony is silent for a long few moments and Steve kind of wants to cry for doing that to him. Tony might not be a very good soul mate but he didn’t deserve this and honestly it was just downright nasty of him to run off with someone else like that and-

“Didn’t see that coming. Fine, if someone looks too closely they’d know I’ve been sneaking around with Peter so. Okay, okay. I’m going to go look up some laws and see if I can screw over their investigation before it starts, okay? We’re probably going to be brought in for questioning too, shit. You know what, one thing at a time. I’ll look up the laws and I’m going to call you back when I know what’s going on, alright?” Tony says. His tone is more gentle than it’s ever been with him, which is weird considering he just admitted to betraying him out and out.

“I… okay. How are you going to do that though?” he asks.

Tony laughs, “of course you don’t know. True Luddite you are. Pretty much every system on this half of the hemisphere was build by me personally. If they think I made ways to keep myself out they’re fucking idiots. I’ll know everything they knew within a few hours if it takes that long and by dinner time I can probably find a few laws to hold them out. Don’t you worry, I’m not about to get shoved into some brainwashing facility,” he says with a note of determination to his voice. Yeah, Steve believed that and he also knew to do it Tony needed to keep _him_ out of a facility too. They’d have to help each other out if they wanted their details right.

“Okay. Is there anything you need me to do?” he asks more out of habit than anything.

“Keep away from Bucky for now. Ask JARVIS for a private line, I know you don’t like talking to him or whatever but you’re communication is probably already being watched. I can make sure nothing looks hinky though so don’t worry about that. JARVIS will make sure that nothing you say will be tracked so he isn’t dragged into this too,” Tony says.

“I uh… well I asked JARVIS to call you in a secure way so I’m sure I can ask him to call Bucky too,” Steve says, half annoyed that Tony thought he wouldn’t think to ask JARVIS.

“Huh. Well you’re full of surprises today. Call Bucky and tell him to keep his distance for now and JARVIS will set up a way for you two to talk. I’ll handle the rest,” he says easily and with that he hangs up.

“Secure line of communication enabled. Would you like me to call Bucky?” JARVIS asks and Steve finds that all manners of disturbing, especially when JARVIS responds to him nodding his head instead of a verbal command. _Creepy_.


	5. Chapter 5

“Bucky!” Steve says, jumping about three feet in the air when he spots his lover leaning against the doorframe of his living room. Jesus. “How the hell did you get in here?” he asks.

Bucky grins, “I have my ways and don’t worry, I wasn’t spotted. Stark’s creepy AI said as much when I got to the back door.”

Steve sighs, “oh Tony and I are fucked,” he mumbles.

“No offense but if they know anything about you in particular one look at you would have screwed you both over,” Bucky points out.

“Not everyone knows me as well as you- oh, that could be useful,” he says, “I need you to tell everyone how happy I am with Tony.” He might as well have slapped Bucky judging by the look on his face and Steve sighs. “This isn’t something either of us want to do, Buck, but unless we want to be tossed into some Reeducation center that’s what’ll happen. We’re a very public couple, I guess these soul mate police people can’t have anyone thinking we’re unhappy,” he says, gesturing to the papers he got in the mail that morning. True to his word Tony managed to screw their investigation right up by blocking their ability to actually watch their video calls and listen to all their other communications. It was an antiquated law that was designed to protect the letters of soul mates back in the eighteen hundreds but it worked just as well. Tony argued that soul mates were just as entitled to privacy now as they were then and he wasn’t wrong.

The problem now was that they could still access all the interviews they’ve both done publically because they weren’t private and Tony’s were… well not good. Steve’s could probably pass given that he’d at least held steadfast in his belief in soul mates until rather recently but Tony had confessed that he never really bought into soul mates. He also told Steve why and he couldn’t help but feel horrible. His own father was abusive but he hadn’t been his mom’s soul mate either. Her soul mate died when they were immigrating to the US and she had settled for Joseph, which turned out to be a mistake. He wondered if his own rosy view of soul mates would have been tainted if he had been his mom’s soul mate.

No actually he didn’t. He’s never liked bullies and if his father had been his mom’s soul mate he would have no faith in them either. It gave him a new appreciation for why, exactly, Tony has been distant all these years. He used to think Tony was just selfish and cold but now he knew he was actually hurt and unwilling to put faith in a system that he’s seen fail. That, and he had no control over soul mates. He’s always known about Tony’s controlling tendencies, it was why he preferred technology to people Steve thinks. Technology was something that he could alter and change on a whim when he didn’t like it, people? He wouldn’t even dream of it thanks to his father’s attempts to control him and his mother. It was strange to Steve that Tony didn’t like people, especially considering how extroverted he was, but then he didn’t really like tech much either. They were even, he guessed.

“Why would I do that?” Bucky asks. He doesn’t look very impressed with Steve and he supposed if he were in Bucky’s position he wouldn’t be either. It had to hurt watching him spend _years_ with someone else without ever moving on only to find out Steve spent the whole span of that time miserable. And now he had to ask him to tell the soul mate police that Steve had no clue existed until two days ago to gush about how happy he was in a relationship he hated. It wasn’t very fair and it was selfish to ask, but Reeducation was the stuff of nightmares if Tony’s research was even a little bit right.

“Because if you don’t ‘m going to get stuffed into some crazy program for god knows how long. Tony would never even leave.” There was no way they could convince the man his beliefs were wrong and Tony was stubborn on the best of days. It didn’t matter how many times they told him what to believe Tony wasn’t the following type. Steve didn’t want to know what these people did with the people they couldn’t ‘fix’.

“Why should I care about Stark? He clearly doesn’t care about you,” Bucky points out.

No, not the way Bucky thinks he should anyways. They cared about each other in the exact same way- they’d bail the other out in a fit of self-preservation but that was it. “Bucky. I don’t care much about him either; you don’t hold that against me. Besides, you have _no idea_ what it was like to be stuck in a relationship for almost ten years with someone you didn’t even like. I at least had the benefit of thinking there was _something_ drawing us together, he never even had that belief at all. Could you imagine that? Being stuck with me must have been like being stuck in a prison, except if he tried to leave that prison he’d get stuck in a bigger, shitter prison. And now I might be thrown in there too.”

God, how did this get so messed up when a month ago things were fine? Well, not fine, but they were steady and stable. That was better than whatever this was. He supposed he could at least count on Tony to figure things out legally and he had connections to the media. If they thought that Tony was about to go down without a fight they didn’t know very much about him. Hell, _Steve_ didn’t know very much about him and new that wasn’t going to happen.

Bucky sighs, “I don’t want to defend him,” he says eventually.

“Hate to break it to you Buck, but defending him and defending me is pretty much the same to these people.” Once, five or so years ago, Tony had been drunk and he had said that this society was two steps away from a dystopia. Steve had no idea what he was talking about and he had been annoyed that Tony was drunk _again_ but now he thinks he understands what Tony was saying that night. Except America was two steps _into_ a dystopia if they had people go around monitoring the happiness of random soul mate pairs. Why did it even matter if they weren’t happy? They weren’t hurting anyone and if Tony’s background is true- and Steve highly doubted he was lying- than being stuck in a soul mate pair genuinely _could_ hurt people.

“Great. So I get stuck doing Stark a favor,” he mumbles, annoyed. He flops onto the couch beside Steve and lets out along sigh. Steve felt that too.

“If I may remind you,” JARVIS interrupts, making Steve and Bucky jump, “you are in danger of Reeducation too according to the law. It would not serve you well to insult the man who is currently keeping you out of prison too.”

Bucky stares at the ceiling in shock. “Did Stark’s creepy AI just threaten me?”

“No. I was simply defending Tony,” the AI says. Bucky doesn’t look less disturbed by this.

“Tony says it has feelings and honestly when it does stuff like this I really do wonder.” He didn’t think normal robots like the ones Tony had in the lab would think to defend Tony. Or think at all really. But Tony had told him once that that’s what he designed JARVIS to do. Apparently the AI could think enough to recode himself, filtering out useless code and commands and he could generate new codes and commands that were useful to his functioning as Tony’s… AI. Steve wasn’t sure what JARVIS’ function was. It occurs to him that this is the sort of simple knowledge he _should_ know about Tony’s tech.

No wonder Tony had no faith in their relationship.

*

Tony made sure to inform Peter if his and Steve’s sudden presence in hot water and to his surprise he watched Tony function with a new level of interest as he made phone calls, read over soul mate law books, and did his research. “What?” he finally asks after he gets off the phone with one Christine Everhart. The woman was a shark when it came to journalism and if anyone could get this story right without tossing them into Reeducation it’d be her. That and he also happened to know she was a skeptic of the whole soul mate thing. They slept together years ago in the late nineties, long before Tony got his shit together with Pepper. He knew he could trust her to some degree.

“This is all surprisingly attractive,” Peter says, grinning at him.

“You have issues, Quill,” Tony says, shaking his head and laughing.

“No really, watching you smack people down with shitty laws they wrote is pretty hot. Just saying,” Peter says in his own defense, hands up.

He shakes his head again, “issues, buddy. I’m honestly surprised things have gone as smoothly as I’ve needed them to go. I thought this would be harder.”

Peter snorts, “yeah, to someone who isn’t as smart or as well read as you none of this would even be possible. I mean come on, you whipped out a law that’s like two hundred years old and then two phone calls later you told some soul mate popo that they were the treasonous ones for even suggesting your relationship wasn’t all happy and whatever. You’re really good at turning people’s words and thoughts around and throwing it back at them. Deflection 101 honestly, but it’s so well worded that they don’t notice. Like I said, hot.”

Tony couldn’t help but wonder if Steve would have this appreciation of his skill. No, he decides, Steve doesn’t. He was appreciative of course but he didn’t look at things the same way Peter did. He didn’t see much more to Tony’s actions than the sum of them while Peter looked past what Tony was doing to see how that tied in with how _he_ worked. That kind of appreciation was new to him really. Even Pepper, someone he’s known for _years_ even before they dated didn’t see these things. Maybe she wasn’t as perfect for him as he thought she was when they were together and especially through the first few years of his relationship with Steve.

“Where have you been my whole life?” he asks. He could have used Peter in his life way sooner honestly.

“Here mostly. Someone had to build the Milano,” he jokes and Tony laughs.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been working on the core to the reactor too, don’t worry. I just don’t know what would work,” he says. He gets out of his desk chair and walks over to his bed and sits down beside Peter, letting him draw Tony into his side when he sits.

“You’ll figure it out,” Peter says with absolute confidence. More than Tony felt anyways.

“Sure,” he mumbles. He’s went through every element that wouldn’t blow the reactor up three times and in a couple different ways but nothing seemed to work right. The stuff that did would eventually lose power or it could have unexpected problems that were as simple as just not working to accidentally poisoning the air. Clearly they weren’t options he’d choose for a deep space mission that meant fixing potential problems was near impossible.

“Tony, you already did the impossible by making that reactor. I know nothing you’ve tried has worked out but I know you can do this. You’ll find a way,” Peter tells him, pressing his lips to the top of Tony’s head.

“I’ve tried everything,” Tony says after a few moments of silence. There was no way to get it to work like he needed to, he’s tried and tried again. There was only so much he could do.

“Then you’ll make something new like you always seem to when you hit a wall. You didn’t become the most well known inventor on this planet and maybe even in history just because you have a pretty face. You’re brilliant Tony, even if you don’t believe it sometimes. You’ll be fine,” Peter tells him.

Make something, as if it was that easy. He couldn’t just _make_ something out of nothing.

He sits straight up as a thought occurs to him. Sometimes he doodled when he needed to think and he hadn’t been paying attention to the doodles before but now he saw what he was doing. Like always he doodled to solve the problem. Except his doodle _was_ the solved problem. Damnit, he should have been paying more attention to what he was drawing, if he had he would have had this solved some time ago. “You’re a genius,” he tells Peter and he kisses him quickly before he flies out of bed, out the door, and all but runs to the lab. He had work to do if he was going to solve this core issue. He hears Peter’s laughter chase after him as he goes but he mostly ignores it, too excited to try his new idea.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony never liked being interrupted when he was working but thanks to his being on the edge of a scientific discovery of some sort he was down right _bitchy_ when he had to call Steve. It didn’t help, Steve thinks, that the time they spent talking was all memorizing details about each other for their interview next week. They both got the impression that they had to pass the tests _or else_. What the tests were they had no idea.

“Yeah yeah, you only eat ice cream with strawberries on it, whatever,” he mumbles. He keeps looking at something off screen and Steve is tempted just to tell him to go and do whatever it was he wanted to do instead of this because his attitude was grating but he doesn’t. They needed this.

“No, strawberry _sauce_ , not strawberries,” Bucky corrects.

Tony rolls his eyes, “is this even relevant? Also why don’t you just eat strawberry ice cream if you’re so damn picky with the vanilla?” he asks.

“Oh, that could be a long standing argument we’ve had,” Steve says. He can visibly see this getting through to Tony and he takes a breath of relief. He had no idea if he remembered the details of their conversations and they didn’t have time for quizzing when they needed to memorize every detail of the other’s life _and_ fabricate a happy seven year long relationship.

“Good, lets do that. I’ll eat basically anything that’s chocolate so you don’t have to think too hard about what I eat,” Tony says, a note of annoyance in his voice.

“Yeah except you’ll eat all of the chocolate things until you either get a stomach ache or throw up,” Steve says, surprising them both with the knowledge. “That party we went to years ago, I spent most of it annoyed at you stuck in a bathroom patting your back because you couldn’t just leave the damn chocolate alone.” Right, he’d been some pissed at Tony and Tony, as usual, hadn’t even noticed.

Judging from the look on his face he doesn’t even remember the incident, which annoys Steve. “Huh. Whatever. I think we should focus on my tech, it would make sense that you’d know a lot about it and you’ve gotten all the rest of the details of my life right except that so.” Tony shrugs like this is easy for Steve when it wasn’t. He had no interest in Tony’s technology.

“You built a circuit board thing when you were six and JARVIS is next level creepy,” he says, recapping his knowledge.

“I built a lot of circuit boards when I was six, the hell are you talking about? And JARVIS is not creepy, he’s the most advanced AI on the planet!” he says in defense of the AI.

“The first one you made, I don’t know. And I don’t care how advanced JARVIS is it’s creepy.” He leaves the AI’s subtle threat to Bucky out of it because Tony would probably laugh and encourage the AI.

“How old was I when I built the first version of JARVIS?” Tony asks and Steve shrugs. Was he supposed to know that.

“Seventeen, just after your parents died,” Bucky says and Steve frowns at him. “Stevie, that’s common knowledge. _Everyone_ knows that and you don’t? Jesus you two are shit together,” he mumbles.

“So JARVIS was your way of dealing with the loss, I’m guessing?” he asks more than states. It fit with Tony’s other habits.

He nods, “JARVIS is modeled after my family’s old butler. The man basically raised me; he was more of a father to me than my own ever was. That isn’t common knowledge. Throw that out there and they might not question why you seem to know so little.”

That actually gives Steve an idea so he perks up. “I suck at tech Tony, you know that. There’s no way I’ll ever learn all of this but you naturally seem to connect tech to people do give me _those_ stories. If someone asks for the details on the tech itself I’ll just tell them I suck with technology, which is true, and that I never asked because I have total faith in your genius. I know about all the stories _behind_ the tech because people are kind of my thing.” It was an easy way to lie because technically it wasn’t much of one. The best way to lie was to tell the truth, it made things easier to follow later.

Tony nods, “that might save our asses. Okay, lets do that.”

*

“I did it!” Tony yells as he runs up to Peter, throwing his arms around him. He doesn’t have to pretend like he’s shocked because he is. He does, however, awkwardly pat Tony’s back like this was some kind of bizarre reaction even though it wasn’t. Appearances had to be kept though so even though he wants to hug Tony back and go celebrate or something he acts like this is weird and a little uncomfortable for him. It wasn’t like he wanted to be stuffed into a Reeducation center either.

“Uh. Cool,” he says stiffly.

“Well don’t be shy, Stark, whip it out,” Rocket tells him, snickering at his own joke.

He steps back from Peter and throws Rocket the reactor with a smug look. Rocket immediately pulls the core out to inspect it and frowns as he turns it over in his hands. “The fuck even _is_ this?” he asks.

“An element that I made,” Tony says casually like this was an everyday run of the mill thing.

“An element that you _made_?” Rocket asks slowly, squinting at it. This lasts for another several seconds before he shakes his head and sticks it back in the reactor. “Holy fuck Stark, I knew you were a genius but this is… dude I am tempted to bow down and I don’t bow to anyone,” he says, shaking his head in wonder.

“What had Rocket looking so awed?” Drax asks, appearing out of the back room of the facility they were in.

“Stark made a new element to power the reactor,” Rocket says, sounding as impressed as he looked.

Drax snorts, “blending elements does not count as making a new one,” he says and he snatches the reactor out of Tony’s hand, removing the core to examine it. The look of minor annoyance at Rocket falls off his face almost immediately as he realizes Rocket wasn’t shitting him and his eyes get wide. “Oh my god. That is… very impressive,” he says eventually.

Tony looks deeply impressed with himself and Peter, even if he couldn’t show it at the moment, was very proud. He _knew_ Tony could do it.

*

“Your video calls have been longer,” Soul Mate Cop One says as he examines Tony’s call times. That was all they’d been able to get from him legally. Tony doesn’t bother to tell him the calls were longer because he and Steve were memorizing useless things about each other, not because they spontaneously loved each other again. Or at all. “Sometimes scrutiny helps couples become closer,” he says.

Uh, no. Sometimes scrutiny means couples do their best not to be tossed into some kind of prison that was intent on brainwashing them into believing in soul mates. God even knew what the goal of that even was. Tony saw no reason for them to be so extremely relevant that those that didn’t believe in them were like a threat to the fabric of society or whatever. He says none of that though.

“We’ve always had short calls- my work schedule is unpredictable and Steve doesn’t like being a nuisance but he was worried so I did my best to comfort him,” he explains. They made the cover story to explain why their calls were short based on explanations Steve has already given and because the brief history explained why there was a change to their habits. It was best; they felt, to explain why their habits were different before and why they might return to that pattern. It would prevent further suspicion.

“Steve seems to think you’ve done a pretty decent job of it,” he says and Tony snorts.

“No he doesn’t. I’m shit with emotions and he knows it,” he blurts out before he can think for a moment. Fuck he was stupid for a genius.

Fortunately for him the soul mate cop guy nods. “So you are aware that he thinks that about you,” he says.

“Well yeah. I’ve never been good with people,” he says, wondering what the hell else Steve would have said about him. What else would Steve know? What would stick out to him as an explanation? He resists the urge to try and takes a stab at it. “He knows I’ve long preferred technology to people, it’s less complicated and… well and I have a history of abuse. Left me a bit emotionally stunted.” It wasn’t wrong exactly, but he had no idea if _that’s_ what Steve listed as his reasons for Tony’s cool emotional nature.

The soul mate cop nods though so Tony must have got it right unless he got it totally wrong and this guy was leading him in all sorts of wrong directions. No, he couldn’t afford to think like that. With people, Steve explained, the most likely answer was usually the right one. He told Tony that he over thought things too much, acting like people were math problems instead of somewhat predictable humans. He still had no clue what that even meant but he figures that his assumptions were somewhat accurate. He hoped anyways.

“He says that’s something you’ve bonded over, abusive fathers?” the cop asks more than states.

Tony nods, “his mom’s soul mate died when they were immigrating here. Turns out the guy she settled for was a real piece of shit.” He doesn’t think through his word choice but he knows right away that he said something right. He thinks it over and decides it was the use of the word ‘settled’ that got the positive reaction. He used it because he didn’t have a high opinion of abusers but he knew this guy liked the choice of word because if you weren’t with your soul mate people always saw it as ‘settling’.

“Steve says you’re not fond of looking into technological ways to locate your soul mate faster,” the cop says. Well fuck; he and Steve never covered _that_ in all their fabricating their lives. Jesus Christ these people had to pick the most obscure things to quiz on. But he does, thanks to an argument they had a while ago; sort of know what Steve’s opinion on the subject was.

Lets hope that he remembered the same argument and made some shit up on the same lines Tony was about to. “It’s a long standing argument we’ve had. I don’t think the system should be messed with and he thinks that it would have been nice to have met sooner or whatever. Personally I think we met at a good time in our lives, that’s when things were supposed to happen and I don’t feel like messing with a good thing.” More like he didn’t want to condemn people to the same shitty prison he was in but whatever.

“When was the first time you knew he felt this way?” he asks and _shit_ , how the fuck was Tony supposed to know that? But wait, Steve knew he sucked at this. Tony, according to Steve, was very predictable so he hadn’t felt the need to have Tony coach him on how to figure out what he was going to say but he spent a lot of time telling Tony how he would answer things. He also said he’d deliberately make it easy for him to answer things.

The only time he could think of when he and Steve ever discussed soul mate finding tech was shortly before he left for his work for NASA so that’s what he tells the cop. He resists the urge to relax when he can see that he got it right. Steve warned him that they’d be watching his body language the whole time and he couldn’t waver in it at all if he wanted them to not suspect anything. He came in here tense so he needed to stay that way.

The cop asks a few more questions and Tony is sure he gets most if not all of them right and finally, _finally_ he is released.

When he finds Steve sitting in the hallway he doesn’t have to fake his relief and neither does Steve. Actually until he spotted Tony he looked worried enough that even _he_ would have been fooled into thinking that Steve genuinely cared. Steve immediately drapes an arm around Tony’s shoulders and he hooks his hand around Steve’s waist like they planned and walk out without saying much of anything. Tony didn’t want to risk saying something and apparently Steve felt the same way. Neither of them thought to script this part but the people around them didn’t seem to look too suspicious.

They don’t say anything until they get into the car and Happy drives off with no questions asked. “That was genius,” Steve tells him and Tony frowns.

“What was?” he asks.

Steve looks surprised for a moment and he sighs, “you really are dense. You looked some pissed off walking out of there, like you were offended that you were dragged in to begin with. Were you like that the whole time?” he asks.

Tony shrugs, “I don’t know, that’s just my face.”

“You know what, who cares. We’re out for now so let’s just take it.”


	7. Chapter 7

Three months they’ve been suspicion-free but it involved more work than either of them anticipated and Tony knew Steve was getting to the end of his rope. Tony? He was used to sneaking around to avoid the media if nothing else but Steve was a blunt, to the point kind of guy. Keeping secrets like this was killing him and his dipshit boyfriend was reckless as hell and Tony didn’t like cleaning up after him. He only did it because he didn’t want to be tossed into Reeducation thanks to _Bucky’s_ actions.

Thankfully he thought he had a ticket out via Christine, who had been shocked to learn about the presence of soul mate police and was rather disgusted. Of course none of them could _say_ that so instead they came up with something else. Something that would, hopefully, get them around the rules of being stuck in a forcible marriage but would also give both Tony and Steve some freedom.

*

Peter thought this was going to go horribly but Tony thought that maybe if he just bent the rules he would be okay. They all gather around the television, Rocket with popcorn, and lean forward in interest as Christine’s interview with Steve and Tony comes on.

“Quill, since you’re fucking him can you tell us what’s going on?” Drax asks, blunt as ever.

He whips around to face them all, shocked. “You guys _knew_?” he asks.

Gamora shrugs, “yeah. We know you well enough to know when you’re lying or acting. Besides, Drax’s soul mate turned out to be a woman he hated, Rocket doesn’t seem to have a soul mate, and my soul mate was my adoptive _sister_. Thankfully we weren’t forced into marriage but we didn’t get out of that without a few scars to the psyche. She hates me now,” Gamora says like this was no big deal.

“I married another woman after Mary and I agreed to fake having other soul mates. Once, before we fooled everyone though, I convinced her a raccoon was a puppy and had her pet it. It almost bit her hand off,” Drax says, laughing like that wasn’t fucked up at all. “I am happily married to my wife now and we have children. Heather is doing very well,” he says proudly. Poor kid, having _Drax_ as a father.

“Wow this is all way more messed up than Tony’s situation. I don’t really know what’s going on though. He thinks he’s found a way around the whole ‘marry your soul mate and stay together until you die or else’ thing and I think he’s being too hopeful.” People weren’t going to leave this damn thing alone until… well Peter didn’t think it’d ever leave the oppressive state it was in but Tony… is Tony.

They all settle back as Christine asks questions though, watching as Steve and Tony laugh together easily. Yeah, Peter has seen them together and they weren’t that happy. Steve didn’t laugh at any of Tony’s jokes, which was a damn shame because Tony is _hilarious_ , and Tony didn’t have near that much patience with Steve. Whatever they were getting to was still a damn joke. It takes some time to get to the point but Peter thinks that it’s worth it to establish a connection between the two however fake it was. It would make whatever was about to come easier, he thinks.

Christine draws attention to their falling under suspicion from the soul mate police that _still_ freaked Peter out. They went after people who didn’t look happy enough but murder and abuse? That’s okay. He really wanted to leave this damn planet and thanks to Tony he was that much closer to being able to do that. Clearly _they_ were meant to be.

“We did have some issues, yes,” Steve says and Tony shoots him a dirty look. If he hadn’t known Tony as well as he did though he would have only assumed he was offended. For a guy who sucked at lying he was really good at it.

“Not ‘issues’ per se. We’ve always had a good relationship,” he says and Peter snorts. Yeah, no they didn’t.

“Jealous much?” Rocket says, rolling his eyes. Peter flips him off.

“What we found was the problem was how we were expected to connect,” Tony continues and Peter starts paying attention to the interview again. “See, Steve and I have found our love a little… lackluster. It isn’t that that we haven’t tried, of course we have, we knew we were drawn together for a reason,” Tony says with such confidence that Peter actually believes it for a moment. “It took us a long time and an investigation but we found that we weren’t meshing as well as we were meant to because we just weren’t meant to be together romantically. We’ve determined that our soul mate connection is platonic.”

“Familial even,” Steve throws in. “We still love each other unconditionally of course, we were meant to, we just love each other a little differently than we expected.”

Rocket snorts, “I’ll say,” he mumbles.

“Is this real?” Drax asks, frowning at Peter.

He shakes his head, “no they suck together. Rogers has _no idea_ what he’s missing honestly. Dude has _squandered_ seven years of Tony’s life.” But even he had to admit this was good. Especially all that shit with them not really questioning the ‘must love each other forever and ever’ shit. They just changed the love. Now he saw what Tony meant when he said this would free them up without really changing things.

“So,” Christine says, “how exactly did you figure this out?”

“Probably when we tried really hard to force the romance and just… nothing,” Steve says.

“And it wasn’t that we didn’t get along,” Tony covers fast, “we did. We were really confused because we seemed to be compatible in pretty much every way but the romance was… well not what Hollywood told us to expect.”

“We figured we’d get all that fire and sparks but instead we got a great connection, just not that romantic passion. It wasn’t until that um… investigation that we started figuring things out. We knew all the answers to the questions and all that so it wasn’t as if we were lacking anything that’s expected of a soul mate so we got to thinking and eventually concluded that the romance wasn’t there because it wasn’t meant to be. Our connection has been a lot stronger since we stopped trying to force ourselves into something our connection was never meant for,” Steve says.

Oh that was just fucking precious. Connection being stronger his ass, Tony’s number one complaint about everything was Steve’s presence in his life and he’d bet that Steve’s complains were all Tony related too. But it was smart to play it that way he guessed. Everyone got their precious soul mates without trying to jam Steve and Tony’s marriage down their throats.

They go on talking about their supposedly excellent platonic connection and how great it all was and all that. Peter mostly tunes out because none of this shit mattered to him, it was all in there to make sure the idea that they weren’t making out non-stop was palatable to the public. It isn’t until he hears the word ‘romance’ that he tunes back in. Christine, he realized, has asked about romantic relationships. It’s stupid to hope Tony would mention him but he kind of hopes for it anyways.

Steve and Tony exchange a glance and even Peter had to admit the action looked natural on them, familiar. “Actually, yeah. We both thought that an easy way to um… test the bond was to see how we connected with other people romantically,” Steve says. Holy shit they were actually going to say it. No wonder they spent so much time hammering it into the audience that they had some super awesome connection to each other if they were going to out and out admit to high treason as far as soul mates go. Infidelity was _illegal_ when you were with your soul mate. This was more than a little gutsy.

“We both found that with others things were fine. We both thought the other would be, well you know, jealous and all that because it’s only natural but we didn’t get that. Instead we were happy with the new arrangement. I know it sounds weird but I mean having your soul mate as your wingman is optimal. Who else knows you like you’re soul mate does? Other people might be um… intimidated by that kind of connection because soul mates are thought of as romantic but we don’t think it’s something to be scared of,” Tony says, grinning at Steve like he didn’t hate the guy.

Steve grins back, “it’s true. Like he said it sounds weird because if your soul mate knows you so well than why not just be with them? But I mean people have best friends, right, people they’ve known for a long time and love but they wouldn’t date because it’s just…” Steve trails off.

“Like dating a sibling,” Tony finishes and Steve nods.

“Exactly. Sure Tony always knows what’s on my mind and we finish each other’s sentences but sometimes people have strong connections without them being romantic. That’s what Tony and I have and it works,” Steve says. Nice, Peter thinks, pointing out that Tony finishes his sentences right after he finishes his sentence. An easy way, Peter realizes, to convey that they still had a warm and fizzy soul mate connection. Their new connection was threatening to the system, but it didn’t question it enough to throw everything out of balance.

“We figure these connections haven’t got much attention because soul mates are always talked about as if they’re romantic. I mean romance isn’t for everyone though, for some people they only want platonic connections. You hear of strange cases too, where people’s soul mates are related to them and stuff so I figure that platonic connections are more popular than we know. We figured we’d make them known so soul mates can get along better,” Tony says. Up until then Peter was sure he actually believed what he was saying but that last bit was total bullshit. He didn’t give a damn about how well soul mates got along.

“Right,” Steve says, “we wanted to tell people about this so soul mated pairs out there didn’t wonder if they were broken or something for not really feeling the romance. And of course like Tony said you do get the cases where people are soul mates with family members so these connections obviously happen, just not always to family members.”

“Guess that’s you Gamora,” Peter says and Gamora throws a wadded up piece of paper at his head. “Just saying.” Rocket at least snickers at his joke and Peter is sure that his comedic genius is underrated with this freaks.

*

Admitting they had been with other people had been dangerous, Tony knew, but someone out there was bound to ask if they knew without testing it. Of course that was against the _law_ so the person asking wouldn’t have expected an answer but Tony was nothing if not thorough. He and Steve made it sound like an arrangement they made with each other and that they thought they’d respond like ‘normal’ people. In real life they didn’t give a damn who or what the other did but people didn’t need to know that. Pretending to be friends was easier than pretending to be married.

They had been nervous but they were good at pretending to like each other in public already so all they had to do was make a few social outings clearly showing that they had a connection still. They wanted to rock the boat, not crash it into an iceberg. The only issue was that they claimed to have a _better_ connection now, which meant that they should appear in public more rather than less. That also depended on how people reacted to their relationship though because what they did was a real risk and there was a very real chance that it would backfire.

The reception, thankfully, was excellent thanks to their validating unconventional pairs. No one thought soul mates that were also family members were right and now they had made the pairs acceptable. Obviously they were meant to be _platonic_ soul mates, the universe didn’t mess something up after all. It also validated pairs with huge age gaps too, which they hadn’t anticipated, and so they decided they were on safe ground after a month of the world being shook by their interview. Christine had also written an article criticizing soul mate police using Tony and Steve as a model for how no two soul bonds were alike, meaning people had no right to police other people’s happiness. She had toed the line of acceptability there but had done a decent enough job making criticisms without risking her ass for it. Her influence was helpful in the end, thankfully.

Thanks to the positive reception the fact that they had technically broken the law had gone overlooked because throwing them in jail wouldn’t look good when they explained why certain soul mates existed like that. Tony thought they were idiots for buying it all, not that he didn’t believe platonic soul mates existed because they were statistically more likely than that romantic soul mate crap, but he and Steve were obviously not a good match in _any_ way. People saw what they wanted to he guessed and he wasn’t in a position to question it.

“Do you think this is a good idea?” Steve asks in a low voice as Bucky moves his stuff into the mansion. He hadn’t liked _that_ and Steve wasn’t sure about it but Tony insisted.

“People expect us to stay close,” he points out, “if we want a divorce we need to play within the rules as much as we can here. Divorce are still technically illegal for us so moving Bucky in with us will be a hell of a lot easier to explain than divorcing me and leaving my ass in the dust. Bucky moving in is like a sleep over with your best friend and his boyfriend every night and that’s fun. If you up and moved out it would be flat out unacceptable.” This way they were a big, happy family rather than a broken home. Or at least that’s how he was going to play it.

Thanks to Steve’s people lessons he was getting better at it if only to avoid being stuffed in _jail_. Already he had done interviews reiterating that he wanted Steve to be happy and that he would do everything in his power to make that happen because that’s what soul mates did, supported each other. People had settled down some after that and Steve’s moving Bucky in was less of a betrayal Tony was accepting for some reason and more like Tony being a good soul mate like he was _supposed_ to.

“I guess you have a point. What about Peter?” he asks.

“I’ll wait for the dust to settle around Bucky first before kicking things back up again. People know he exists, that’s all they need to know right now.” That had been another reason why people weren’t after Steve’s head. He supported Tony in his relationship too, he wasn’t a horrible monster who was just trying to find a legal way to cheat on Tony and take his money too if Tony was also with someone. Peter didn’t _like_ being used as a pawn but he accepted it because he did genuinely love Tony and he knew Tony wasn’t fond of this either. But they had to do what they had to do.

Steve remains silent for a long few moments before he speaks again. “Thanks for this. You didn’t need to take care of me first and you did. As much bullshit as we’re selling here you aren’t really lying about being a good soul mate to me,” he says.

Tony shrugs, “people like me and they’re willing to overlook my transgressions. They aren’t so willing to do that with you so right now it’s imperative to make sure that your ass is covered unless we want people breaking out the pitchforks. Besides, making sure things go smoothly for you means they’ll go smoothly for me in the future.” Most of this was for selfish reasons really.

“Still doing your soul mate duties,” Steve sing songs and Tony rolls his eyes as he walks away to go find Bucky.

Later he can thank his lucky stars that the best picture of Bucky’s move in _happened_ to be a picture of Steve and Bucky kissing with Tony gazing at them warmly, like he was happy that Steve found happiness. There was no malice, no longing like he secretly wanted Steve and was letting him do whatever he wanted like some kind of fucked up martyr or whatever, or any other bizarre conspiracy people came up with. Instead a lot of people were forced to admit that maybe, _just_ maybe Tony and Steve really did have a platonic connection and he was actually happy Steve was with someone else. To be fair he was, watching Steve and Bucky kiss was a damn load off his shoulders because he didn’t have to pretend to love Steve anymore and Steve wasn’t trying to force them both into a relationship they hated to make himself feel better. But the picture still looked good in the way it needed to and that’s what mattered.

*

Peter didn’t except Tony to drag him out of obscure mentions really given how messy his fight to change the divorce laws were- all in the name of doing right by his platonic soul mate whom he totally cared about- but he does and without Peter knowing about it too.

He’s happily situated in Tony’s giant ass mansion with some wicked nice floors that he liked so slide across on his socks when he overhears Tony’s interview outside. It wasn’t abnormal, ironically there were more eyes on him and Steve than ever before, but he doesn’t expect Tony to open the damn doors to reveal him in his socks singing into his trusty rat. Boy was that embarrassing. Tony just grins at him and Peter knows that’s all he’ll need for the press. His face _clearly_ shows how much he cares about Peter and he sighs, wondering where he was supposed to put his rat now.

“Well come on, people keep questioning your existence so you might as well say hi,” Tony says. Jesus he was not prepared for this.

“Uh, hi?” he asks more than says and the press goes _wild_. For the next forty-five minutes he gets his ass grilled on his and Tony’s relationship and Tony and Steve’s relationship. He awkwardly holds his rat and answers things probably too honestly minus the stuff about Tony and Steve, he lied though his teeth about that. And about the super awesome relationship he totally had with Steve that he one hundred percent oversold but these people were _idiots_ and actually bought his having fucking _movie dates_ with Steve once a week because they both loved sci-fi. Steve hated sci-fi because he’s a fucking freak, he made that up.

When he and Tony finally escape back into the house he sighs, “so uh, sorry for fucking that all up for you,” he says honestly. They were all going to Reeducation now, _whoops_.

Tony frowns, “what are you talking about? You were _great_! I mean come on, all that stuff about you and Steve bonding even though I think he hates alien movies, and all that stuff with Steve and I. Trust me you did great,” Tony tells him.

“Think I oversold it a little with Steve and come on, I was _definitely_ laying it on thick when I said we bonded over losing our mothers young to tragic circumstances,” he says.

“Actually I think that’s when they were less prepared to burn you alive. You made a pretty damn convincing picture of you and Steve bonding and how he’s totally fine with all of this and how we all go stargazing, Bucky included. I mean the calling you Star Lord thing was definitely over the top but then you brought it around by connecting your ridiculous nickname to your dead mom so it went form being absurd to cute and all warm and fuzzy and stuff so I can’t complain,” Tony says, shrugging.

“My mom actually did call me that you ass!” Peter says and Tony’s eyes go wide and he apologizes.

“You’re all contractually obligated to call me Star Lord now,” Peter says, fully prepared to use this to his advantage.

“We are not calling you that. Also the rat? People will love it,” Tony tells him. “Now come on, I want to forget about the press and you’re pretty good at distractions.” Peter grins and follows Tony up the stairs to his room, depositing the rat back in it’s cage on the way.


End file.
